ia College ^It
FROM THE LIBRARY OF
L. E. HORNING, B.A., Ph.D.
(1858-1925)
PROFESSOR OF TEUTONIC
PHILOLOGY
VICTORIA COLLEGE
THE DREAM OF THE ROOD
AN OLD ENGLISH POEM
ATTRIBUTED TO CYNEWULF
EDITED BY
ALBERT S. COOK
PROFESSOR OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
IN YALE UNIVERSITY
OXFORD
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS
1905
Ds
HENRY FROWDE, M.A.
PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
LONDON, EDINBURGH
NEW YORK AND TORONTO
- 8
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION :
Manuscript v
Editions viii
Translations viii
Authorship ......... ix
A. The Theory of Csedmon's Authorship . . ix
B. The Theory of Cynewulf's Authorship . . xvii
Dietrich's view xvii
Rieger's' arguments xxvii
Ebert'a objections xxviii
Wiilker's objection xxx
Trautmann's views ...... xxx
Discussion of evidence xxx
Literary Characteristics ...... xli
Bibliography lix
THE DREAM OF THE ROOD ....... i
NOTES ii
APPENDIX .......... 47
GLOSSARY 55
INTRODUCTION
MANUSCKIPT.
THE poem is contained ki the Vercelli Book, or Codex
Vercellensis, a manuscript volume of the early part of
the eleventh century, discovered by Dr. Friedrich Blume
in 1822 in the chapter library of the cathedral of Vercelli,
where it still remains. It consists of 135 leaves, con-
taining, besides a number of homilies and the life of
St. Guthlac in prose, the following poems : Andreas,
Fates of the Apostles, Address of the Soul to the Body,
Falsehood of Men, Dream of the Eood, Elene.
How the manuscript reached Vercelli is a question
upon which two leading hypotheses have been held.
According to one, it would have been taken from England /
to Italy by Cardinal Guala-Bicchieri, who was Papal
Legate in England from 1216 to 1218, who founded the
monastery church of St. Andrew at Vercelli after his
return from England, had it erected by an Englishman
in the Early English style, and bestowed upon it relics
of English saints. Moreover, he was the possessor of
a library remarkable for that time, which he bequeathed
to his monastery, and which contained a copy of the
Bible in English handwriting. Finally, the monastery
school, which in 1228 became a university, was attended
by Englishmen, and, among others, by Adam de Marisco,
the first teacher in the school which the Franciscans
set up in Oxford ; this must have been before 1226,
the year of St. Francis's death, since it is expressly
v
INTRODUCTION
stated that it was he who sent Adam, in company with
St. Anthony of Padua, to the Vercelli school. As it
is well known that Guala levied large sums upon the
clergy before leaving England, there would be nothing
surprising in his receiving books as well — perhaps, since
he was so zealous a collector, as an equivalent for certain
sums of money. Altogether, the considerations here
presented would seem to render it probable that the
Vercelli Book reached that city through Guala's agency.
i For a fuller presentation of this theory, see my Cardinal
' Guala and the Vercelli Book, Library Bulletin No. 10 of
the University of California, 1888.
The other hypothesis is that of Wiilker. He was told
in Vercelli that at a comparatively early period there
was in that city a hospice for Anglo-Saxon pilgrims on
their way to and from Kome. There may, he concludes,
have been a small library of devotional books attached
to the hospice, and from this our manuscript may have
passed into the possession of the cathedral library (Grund-
riss cur GescMchte der Angelsachsischen Litteratur, p. 237 ;
Codex Vercettensis, p. vi). I can only say that to me the
probability of this hypothesis seems of the slenderest.
The poems of this collection were all published for
the first time by Thorpe, probably from a transcript by
Blume, as Appendix B to a Keport on Eymer's Foedera.
intended to have been made to the Commissioners on
Public Records by Charles Purton Cooper, their secretary.
According to Kemble, writing in 1843 (Preface to The
Poetry of the Codex Vercellensis), ' It was intended as an
Appendix, or rather as part of an Appendix, to another
and very different composition, and was consequently
compressed into the smallest possible space, without
vi
MANUSCRIPT
introduction, translation, or notes of any description.'
The same writer says : ' Circumstances prevented the
publication of the book, but a few copies of it found
their way into the hands of persons interested in the
subject, both here and in Germany.' At last, in 1869,
Lord Romilly, as Master of the Rolls, ordered the Ap-
pendixes, which had been in store since 1837, to be
distributed. The editions of the poems by Kemble (1843,
1856), and of the Andreas and Elene by Grimm (1840),
were based upon the text published by Thorpe.
For further details concerning the manuscript, see
Wiilker, Grundriss, pp. 237-43, and the remarks pre-
fixed to his photographic facsimile of the poetical parts,
under the title Codex Vercellensis (Leipzig, 1894).
The Dream of the Eood begins on the back of leaf 104
(line 6), immediately following the fragment of the poem
called Falsehood of Men, and continues through this
page and three more, ending at the bottom of the first
page of leaf 106. There is a blot near the bottom of
the first page, which, however, renders nothing illegible.
At the top of the second page, the beginning of leaf 105.
a new hand appears, according to Wtilker, and con-
tinues beyond the limits of this poem. The second
hand, which is manifestly smaller in the facsimile, begins
with wendan, 1. 22. The successive pages then end with
ffam, 1. 6 1 ; on, 1. 105 ; and wees, 1. 156. The verse is
written as prose. Accents are found over the vowels
of the following words : fall, 1. 13 ; dheawen, 1. 29 ; dliof,
1. 44 ; dhofon, 1. 61 ; rod, 1. 136. The poem begins, after
a break, with a capital H, enclosing a smaller capital w,
as the beginning of Hivcet. Other manuscript peculiar-
ities are noted in the variants.
vii
INTRODUCTION
EDITIONS.
Complete editions are by Thorpe (1837), Bouterwek
(1854), Kemble (1856), Grein (1858), Stephens (1866),
Pacius (1873), Kluge (1888), Grein-Wiilker (1888).
Partial editions are by Sweet (1876; 11. 1-89) and
Robinson (1885 ; 11. 14^-56").
Editions accompanied by translations are those of
Bouterwek, Kemble, Hammerich, Michelsen, Stephens,
Pacius, and Robinson ; Grein's translation is in his Dich-
tungen dcr Angelsaclisen. Explanatory notes are contained
only in Pacius' edition, and those of the scantiest. No
edition contains a full special glossary.
TRANSLATIONS.
Fourteen complete or partial translations have appeared.
Complete translations are :
In German prose by Bouterwek (1854).
In German verse by Grein (1859) and Pacius (1873).
In English prose by Kemble (1856).
In English verse by Stephens (1866), Morley (1888), and
Miss Iddings (1902).
Partial translations are :
Of lines i-ioa, i6b-2oa, 2ib~3, 28-49% 52h-9a, 6ib~5a
in English prose, by Kemble (1844).
Of lines 1-69 in Danish verse, by Hammerich (1873).
Of lines 1-69 in German verse, by Michelsen (1874).
Of lines 95-121 in German verse, afterwards translated
into English, by Ten Brink (1877, 1883).
Of lines 1-89 in English verse, by Miss Hickey (1882),
Moorsom (free paraphrase with brief epilogue, printed
1888, reprinted 1901), Miss Brown (1890).
Of lines 14^-56 in English verse, by Robinson (1885).
viii
TRANSLATIONS
Of lines 1-63, 122-56 in English verse, alternating
with prose, by Brooke (1892).
Of lines 1-63, 122-41, I48b~56 in English verse,
alternating with prose, by Brooke (1898).
Specimens of all the versions which include lines 1-12
are given in the Appendix, pp. 47-54.
AUTHORSHIP.
With respect to the authorship of our poem, two chief
opinions have been entertained :
A. The poem is by Caedmon.
B. It is by Cynewulf.
A. THE THEORY OF GNOMON'S AUTHORSHIP.
The theory that the Dream of the Rood is by Caedmon
depends upon certain considerations relative to the Ruth-
well Cross. Of this notable piece of antiquity, no doubt
the finest stone cross in existence, the following account
is slightly condensed from a standard writer on Scottish
archaeology l : 'At Ruthwell, in Annandale, within eightx
miles of Dumfries, there stands a very remarkable monu- 1 *
ment. Its form is that of a tall free-standing cross. As
it stands at present, the Cross is reconstructed. The
whole height of the Cross is about 17^ feet, the shaft
being 2 feet in breadth at the base, and 15 inches in
thickness. The material is sandstone. It stood in the
old church of Ruthwell till 1642, when the General
Assembly which met at St. Andrews on 27th July of
that year issued an order for its destruction as a monu-
ment of idolatry. The transverse arms are still wanting,
1 Anderson, Scotland in Early Times, Second Series, pp. 233 ff.
ix
INTRODUCTION
those now on the monument having been supplied in
1823. The monument is sculptured with figure-subjects
on the broad faces, and on its sides with scroll-work.
The figure-subjects on the broad faces of the Cross are
arranged in panels surrounded with flat borders, on
which are incised the inscriptions which give to this
monument its special interest. They are in two lan-
guages and two alphabets, one set being carved in Koman
capitals, the other in runes. The runes are on the raised
borders enclosing the two panels of scroll-work, and are
arranged in vertical columns, extending from top to
bottom, with the exception of the first line, which runs
horizontally across the top of the panel. Consequently
it reads from left to right across the first line, in the
usual way, then continues in a vertical line down the
whole of the right-hand border, returning to the top of
the left-hand border, and reading vertically again to the
base. As the lower part of the Cross is more wasted than
the upper, there are places where the reading fails toward
the bottom of each border, thus making four gaps in the
continuity of the inscription V
The general meaning of the runic inscription was first
made known by Kemble in a paper published in vol. 28
of Archceologia (1840), and the substantial identity of the
fragments with corresponding portions of the Dream of
1 It may be added that there is a fine engraving of the Cross in
Archceologia Scotica, vol. 4 (1833). The first archaeologist to call
attention to this monument was William Nicolson, then Arch-
deacon, and afterwards Bishop, of Carlisle, who visited it in April,
1697, after having been informed about it by Rev. James Lason
in September, 1690. Nicolson sent a copy of the inscription to
Hickes before September n, 1697, and the latter published it in his
Thesaurus in 1703. On Julys, 1704, Nicolson collated his transcript
with the original. See my 'Notes on the Ruthwell Cross,' in
Pub. Mod. Lang. Assoc. of America 17. 367-90.
AUTHORSHIP
the Rood was disclosed by the same scholar in a paper
read November 24, 1842, and published in Archaologia,
vol. 30 (1844).
The two inscriptions given below on pp. 3 and 4 are
found respectively at the right and the left of one face,
and the remaining two on the right and the left of the
other face, the words Crist tvces on representing the hori-
zontal line referred to above.
The first person to attribute the verses on the Ruth-. .
well Cross to Caedmon was Daniel H. Haigh (1819-79).]
Writing in the ArclxEologia JEliana for November, I8561,
Haigh said: 'Are we not justified in regarding the lines
upon the Ruthwell Cross as fragments of a lost poem of
his, a poem, however, which a later poet in the tenth
century undertook to modernize and adapt to the taste of
his own times, as Dryden did with some of the poems of
Chaucer ? I submit to the judgement of others this con-
jecture, based upon these grounds, viz. that on this
monument, erected about A. D. 665, we have fragments
of a religious poem of very high character, and that there
was but one man living in England at that time worthy
to be named as a religious poet, and that was Caedmon.'
Haigh's reason for dating the Ruthwell Cross so early
was its resemblance to the Bewcastle Cross, which, as
he read the name of Alcfrid2 upon it, he dated about 665.
1 p. 173-
8 He says (The Conquest of Britain by the Saxons, p. 37) : ' The first
[inscription] on the western face of the Cross at Bewcastle, in
Cumberland, is simply a memorial of Alcfrid, who was associated
by Oswiu with himself in the kingdom of Northumbria, and died
probably in A. D. 664.' The inscription on the Bewcastle Cross is
very uncertain (see Sievers in Paul's Grundriss der Germanischen
Philologie i*. 256 ; Anglia 13. 12, 13 ; cf. Victor, Die Northumbrischen
Runensieine, p. 46), and in its present form probably late.
xi
INTRODUCTION
Again, writing in 1861, he said1: 'The poem of which
these are fragments was probably one of those which
Caadmon, who was living at the time when these monu-
ments were erected, composed. That they belong to the
seventh century cannot be doubted ; they contain forms of
the language which are evidently earlier than those which
occur in the contemporary version of Baeda's verses in a
MS. at S. Gallen, and the copy of Caedmon's first song at
the end of the MS. of the Historia Ecdesiastica, which
was completed two years after its author's death.'
This view of Haigh's was supported by George Stephens
(1813-95), the runic collector, a friend and correspondent
of Haigh's, and it is with Stephens's name that the theory
is usually associated. Stephens, like Haigh, referred the
cross to the seventh century, and ascribed the authorship
of the verses to Csedmon. Stephens wrote as follows 2 :
' There is no doubt of the reading, though a letter or
two is now injured. It is, on the right side :
CADMON
and, on the left side :
M^FAUCEpO
That is, the M^E being a bind-rune :
CADMON ME FAWED (made). . . .
' So, by another form of the same verb, King Alfred has
the expression ged gefcgean for "to indite, compose, make,
a song. ..."
' This, then, is clear, outward evidence that Caedmon,
whose name is also spelled Cedmon, here found in its
North English and more original shape as Cadmon, was
the author of these runic verses.
' But we have three arguments or proofs that the
1 Conquest of Britain, p. 39. a Run. Mon. i. 419-420
xii
AUTHORSHIP
beautiful poem, of which the lines on the Cross are an
extract or episode or fragment, was written by no other
than Caodmon.
' First, there is the above direct evidence of the runic
carving on the top-stone of the Cross itself. The words
are plain enough, and even the unsupported theory that
this top-stone may be somewhat younger than the Pillar
will not in the least weaken this broad statement. Even
if later, the stone only r.sserted a known fact.
' Second. It was long ago suggested by Mr. Haigh, in
his excellent paper in the Archteologia JEliana, that at the
period when this monument was raised — the seventh
century or thereabouts — there was no known man in all
England, or in fact in all Europe, who could have written
so noble an English lay save the author of the Biblical
Paraphrase, which has always been acknowledged as his,
even though we may admit some natural change and
interpolation in later times in the course of its transcrip-
tion into Old South English. Qf^course we here do not
refer to the piece called The Harrmving of Hell. He
therefore boldly concluded that, in his opinion, the Dream,
of the Holy Hood was from the pen of Caedmon. This
splendid, though daring, assumption or implication has
now been approved by the very stone itself.
'Tliirdly. We have decisive internal evidence. A
careful examination of the South English copy (see the
Glossary) shows that the scribe was working from a North
English original, even in those lines which are not carved
011 the Cross. But, in addition hereto, a slight acquaint-
ance with the Dream will at once make us aware of one
very striking peculiarity of style. This is, an extraordinary
mixture of accents. Commonly we have the usual two-
COOK xiii b
INTRODUCTION
accented line. But every now and then, under the
pressure of poetic excitement, or personal taste, or the
traditions of a local school, the bard breaks out into three,
sometimes four, accents in one line, then sinking back again
into the regular double tone- weight. One example will
suffice to show what I mean [quoting lines 4-12 inclusive].
' Now, as far as I know, this rhythmical peculiarity is
unknown in Old English verse except here, in Caedmon's
Paraphrase, and in that noble epical fragment Judith.
And I venture to assert that all these three are by one
and the same Scop. Cfcdmon wrote them all. They have
all the same coleur, all the same Miltonic sublimity, the
same "steeling" of phrase, the same sinking back not only
to the two-accented line, but sometimes to an almost
prosaic simplicity in the- intervals of his flights of genius.
I am thus led to do for Judith what Mr. Haigh did for the
Dream. I attribute it to Caedmon. After-discovery has
proved the latter in the right; probably we shall never be
able to produce direct evidence with regard to Judith,'
Elsewhere Stephens asserts : ' It cannot be later than
the latter half of the seventh century, for it bears a gram-
matical form so antique (the accusative dual ungcet} that
it has hitherto only been met with in this place, while the
art-workmanship also points to the same period1.'
_ JThis theory of Stephens's, then, rests on three main
tulates :
i. The Cross was sculptured in the seventh century:
that is, the figures and ornamentation are old.
1 Run. Hon. 2. 420. The remark about ungcet came originally
from Kemble (Archccologia 28. 359) : ' The word Ungket is another
incontrovertible proof of extreme antiquity, having, to the best of
my knowledge, never been found but in this passage.' On this
word see my 'Notes on the Ruthwell Cross,' p. 384.
AUTHORSHIP
2. The inscription — which might conceivably have been
a later addition — belongs to the seventh century.
3. The Cross bears the words 'Cadraon me made.'
As to the first of these postulates, the chief authority
on the ornamentation, Sophus Mttller, is thus reported
by Bugge1: 'The Euthwell Cross must be posterior to
the year 800, and in fact to the Carlovingian Renaissance,
on account of its decorative features. The free foliage
and flower-work, and the dragons or monsters with two
forelegs, wings, .and serpents' tails, induce him to believe
that it could scarcely have been sculptured much before
A.D. loooV
As to the second postulate, I first showed- in 1890 3,
and again in 1901 4, that the language of the inscription
on the Cross must be as late as the tenth century, and
very likely posterior to 950. To repeat the conclusions
formulated in the more recent article : While the general
aspect of the inscription has led many persons to refer
it to an early period, it lacks some of the marks of
antiquity ; every real mark of antiquity can be paralleled
from the latest documents ; some of the phenomena point
to a period subsequent to that of the Lindisfarne Gospels
(about A.D. 950), and the Durham Eitual (A.D. 950-1000) ;
and none flatly contradicts such an assumption. More-
over, a comparison of the inscription with the Dream of
Hie Eood shows that the former is not an extract from an
earlier poem written in the long Caedmonian line which
is postulated by Vigfiisson and Powell B and by Mr. Stop-
1 Cf. my 'Notes,1 p. 390.
2 Cf. Miiller, Dyreornamentiken i Norden, p. 155, note.
3 Ttie Academy 37. 153. * Cf. p. xiv, note i.
5 Corpus Poeticum Borecde i. 435.
XV b 2
INTRODUCTION
ford Brooke1, since the earliest dated verse is in short
lines only, and since four of the lines in the Cross-
inscription represent short lines in the Dream of the
Hood * ; it shows that the latter is more self-consistent,
more artistic, and therefore more likely to be or to
represent the original 3 ; and it shows that certain of the
forms of the latter seem to have been inadvertently
retained by the adapter who selected and rearranged the
lines for engraving on the Cross4. All this harmonizes
with the evidence from grammar, and with the conclu-
sions drawn from the character of the sculptured orna-
ment.
As to the third postulate, it may be remarked that the
forms mce and faucefoo are impossible as Old English 5 ;
that, were they existent, fauoefio could not mean 'made';
and that, even allowing this to be true, the maker could
in that case mean only the sculptor of the whole Cross,
and not the author of the runic verses. But what is
still more conclusive, Vietor, the latest competent scholar
who has made a thorough examination of the Cross,
declares that he can read no such inscription 6.
Summing up the evidence, then, the indications are as
follows :
i. So far from the Cross-inscription representing an
earlier form of the Dream of the Hood, it seems rather
1 L'ng. Lit. before the Norman Conquest, p. 197.
a 'Notes,' pp. 376-7. 3 Ibid., p. 378. 4 Ibid., p. 390.
5 Cf. Bugge, Studien, tr. Bremner, i. 494 ; Sweet, Oldest English
Texts, p. 125.
' What he reads, and that, as will be seen, quite uncertainly, is
this (Die Northumlrischen Eunensteine, p. n ; cf. p. 12) :
: (E?) D (D?)^Ej?(:)
(BLE?)(F) AYRpO
xvi
AUTHORSHIP
to have been derived from the latter, and to have been
corrupted in the process.
2. Csedmon's name has never been on the Cross.
3. Linguistic considerations would refer the inscription
to the tenth century, and probably to the latter half of
that century.
4. Archaeological considerations are to the same effect
as those drawn from the language.
Accordingly, there is no shadow of proof or probability
that the inscription represents a poem written by Ctedmon.
B. THE THEORY OF CYNEWULF'S AUTHORSHIP.
We pass now to the second hypothesis with respect
to the Dream of the Rood, that which assigns its author-
snap to Cynewulf. Kemble1 was the first to make the /
suggestion that all the poems of both the Exeter and
Vercelli Books might be by Cynewulf, whom, however,
he conceived to be an Abbot of Peterborough, living at
the beginning of the eleventh century. Thorpe 8 believed -
that Cynewulf, the Abbot of Peterborough, was the
author of the Juliana and perhaps all the Vercelli poetry.
In all this, it will be observed, there is no specific
attribution of the Dream to Cynewulf, but merely a con-
jectural assignment of the whole body of poetry in the
manuscript which contains it. For an attempt to show
why Cynewulf might be reasonably regarded as the_.
author of the Dream of the Hood in particular, we must
refer to the celebrated scholar Franz Dietrich.
Dietrich's view. Dietrich s, in 1865, adduced a variety
1 Archteologia 28. 3^2-3.
2 Codex Exoniensis (1842), p. 501.
3 Disputatio de Cruce Ruthwdlensi. Marburger Universitiitsschrift.
xvii
INTRODUCTION
of arguments in support of his theory. Some of these,
such as the presence of lyric passages in a narrative
poem, are applicable to other Old English poems as
well, and therefore have lost what cogency they may
once have seemed to possess, but the rest are still
worthy of attention.
As at least two of these arguments depend upon
Cynewulfs statements concerning himself in the rune-
passages of the Christ, the Juliana, the Fates'ofthe Apostles,
and the Elcne, I adduce the relevant parts. The Christ
has1 (789-801): 'Alas! I expect, yea, and fear a sterner
doom when the Prince of angels cometh again, since
I have ill kept those things which the Saviour bade me
in the Scriptures. For this, as I account truth, I shall
behold terror, the punishment of sin, when many shall
be led into the assembly before the presence of the eternal
Judge. Then shall the COURAGEOUS 2 tremble ; he shall
hear the King, the Euler of heaven, speak stern words
unto those who in time past ill obeyed Him on earth,
while as yet they could easily find comfort for their
YEARNING and their NEED.'
The Juliana has (695 ff.) : ' Greatly do I need that the
saint afford me succor when the dearest of all things
shall forsake me, when the two consorts shall dissolve
their union, when my soul shall leave the body and go
on a journey, whither I know not, to an alien abode.
C, Y, and N shall depart in sadness. The King will be
wroth, the Bestower of victories, when E, W, and U,
stained with sins, awaits with trembling what sentence
1 Whitman's translation (Boston, U.S.A., 1900).
3 These words represent the runes that form the beginning of
the name Cyn^e)wulf.
xviii
AUTHORSHIP
shall be passed upon him according to his deeds, as the
award for his life. L F trembles, rests full of anxiety,
remembering all the anguish, the woundings of the sins
which I committed first or last in the world.' Cynewulf
goes on to say that he must repent in tears, that he
will need the intercession of Juliana, and that he begs
every one who shall read the poem to pray for him
by name that God would be merciful to him in that
Great Day.
The Fates of the Apostles has : i Here may he that is
wise of prescience, he who rejoiceth in songs, discover
who composed this lay.' Then follow the Cynewulfian
runes.
The passage from the Elene is1 (1237-77): 'Thus I,
old and ready to depart by reason of the failing2 house,
have woven wordcraft and wondrously gathered, have
now and again pondered and sifted my thought in the
prison of the night. I knew not all concerning the
right . . .s before wisdom, through the noble power,
revealed a larger view into the cogitation of my heart.
I was guilty of misdeeds, fettered by sins, tormented with
anxieties, bound with bitternesses, beset with tribulations,
before he bestowed inspiration through the bright order *
as a help to the aged man. The mighty King granted
me his blameless grace and shed it into my mind,
revealed it as glorious, and in course of time dilated it ;
he set my body free, unlocked my heart, and released the
power of song, which I have joyfully made use of in
1 Slightly changed from my rendering in Cook and Tinker's
Select Translations from Old English Poetry, pp. 141-2.
a Emending fxcne to fxge. * Perhaps something lost.
* Or, gloriously.
xix
INTRODUCTION
the world. Not once alone, but many times, had I re-
flected on the tree of glory, before I had disclosed the
miracle concerning the glorious tree, as in the course
of events I found related in books, in writings, concerning
the sign of victory. Until that the man1 had always
been buffeted by billows of sorrow, was an expiring
TORCH, though he in the mead-hall had received treasures,
appled gold. Y (?) lamented ; the FORCED companion
suffered affliction, an oppressive secret, though2 before
him the STEED measured the mile-paths and proudly ran,
decked with wires3. JOY has waned, pleasure has
decreased with the years ; youth has fled, the former
pride. U (?) was of old the splendor of youth ; now, after
the allotted time, are the days departed, the joys of life
have vanished, as WATER glides away, the hurrying floods.
Eveiy one's WEALTH is transitory under the sky ; the
ornaments of the field pass away under the clouds like
the wind when it rises loud before men, roams among
the clouds, rushes along in rage, and again on a sudden
grows still, close locked within its prison, held down by
force.'
This may be condensed about as follows 4 :
1. When I was young I received gifts in hall, and was
present when my horse careered across the plain in
gorgeous trappings (or, perhaps, when the horses of others
were raced) ; yet I was not happy, for I was still a
sinner.
2. In later years I was converted, and life acquired
a new meaning. I began to reflect, practised the poetic
1 Emending scec to secg. a Emending J>a?r to ]>lah.
3 i.e. rnetal ornaments.
4 Cf. my edition of The Christ of Cynewulf, p. Ixvii.
XX
AUTHORSHIP
art, thought deeply and read widely about the cross of
Christ, and finally have been enabled to write this account
of its invention by St. Helena.
3. The joys of sense, the pride of life, have departed
with my youth. I am now an old man ; yet I realize
that I am not only ransomed from the power of sin,
but have received special grace from on high, and by
divine assistance have brought to a close this poem on
a subject very near to my heart.
Dietrich, in advocating the assignment of the Dream
of the Rood to Cynewulf, insists upon the following points
of connexion between that Elcne and the Dream :
i. The theme of both is the cross. Indeed, Cynewulf
has much to say of the cross in the Christ l. We might
especially compare the following extract (jOJir. 1081-1102):'
' There shall sinful men, sad at heart, behold the greatest
affliction. Not for their behoof shall the cross of our
Lord, brightest of beacons, stand before all nations, wet
with the pure blood of heaven's King, stained with His
gore, shining brightly over the vast creation. Shadows
shall be put to flight when the resplendent cross shall
blaze upon all peoples. But this shall be for an affliction
and a punishment to men, to those malefactors who knew
no gratitude to God, that He, the King, was crucified
on the holy rood for the sins of mankind, on that day
when He whose body knew no sin nor base iniquity
lovingly purchased life for men with the price with which
He ransomed us. For all this will He rigorously exact
recompense when the red rood shall shine brightly over
all in the sun's stead.'
1 'Uberrime de cruce Cynevulfus locutus erat iam in carniiiu'
Crist appellate' (p. 12, note).
xxi
INTRODUCTION
2. In the Dream of the Rood the author says (126-31) :
And now my life's great happiness is this,
That to the cross victorious I may come,
Alone, above the wont of other men,
To worship worthily. Desire for this
Is great within my heart, and all my help
Must reach me from the rood1.
In the Elene Cynewulf says : — ' Not once alone, but
many times, had I reflected on the tree of glory before
I had disclosed the miracle concerning the glorious tree,
as in the course of events I found related in books, in
writings, concerning the sign of victory.' Dietrich
interprets the former passage as prophetic of a future
work on the cross, and the latter as a backward reference
to the Dream of the Hood. The impulse to compose the
Elene is traceable to the vision which appeared to the
author of the Rood*.
3. Cynewulf is fond of speaking of himself and his
feelings in the epilogues of his other poems3, where he
*J adds his name in runes. In like manner he comes for-
ward in his own person in the Dream of the Rood (cf. the
next section).
4. In both poems the author represents himself as
old, having lost joys or friends, and as ready to de-
1 Miss Iddings' translation, published in Cook and Tinker's
Select Translations, pp. 93-9.
a ' Quod scilicet sibi summo animi ardore crucis contemplator
proposuit, id poematis de crucis inventione compositi auctor
luculenter exsecutus est. Credibile igitur est, Cynevulfum ad
Elenam canendam illo somnio, quod poeta de cruce v. 137 sibi
revera apparuisse asserit, animo impulsum esse.'
3 ' Kynewulfus, qui de sua persona suisque sensibus in carminum
maiorum epilogis loqui solebat, addito nomine suo Cynewulf,
runis espresso' (p. n). Cf. supra, pp. xviii-xx.
xxii
AUTHORSHIP
part. Thus in the Dream of the Hood we have (124-6,
W-l)-
My soul within
Was quickened to depart, so many years
Of utter weariness tad I delayed.
Of powerful friends
Not many do I own on earth, for hence
Have they departed, from the world's delights ;
They followed after Him, their glorious King,
And with the Father now in heaven they live,
Dwelling in bliss.
And in the Eknc: 'Thus I, old and ready to depart
by reason of the failing house. . . . JOY has waned,
pleasure has decreased with the years ; youth has fled,
the former pride. U (?) was of old the splendor of youth ;
now, after the allotted time, are the days departed, the
joys of life have vanished.'
5. The diction of the Dream resembles in various par-
ticulars that employed by Cynewulf. As, according to
Dietrich, Cynewulf wrote not only the Juliana, Christ,
and Elene, but also the Andreas, Guthlac, Phoenix, and
Riddles, all references drawn from the latter group are
excluded in adducing the correspondences which will be
cited. Dietrich quotes three sets of correspondences in
three successive notes, as follows :
a. Cynewulf is fond of denoting ' wound ' by dolg (also
fcorhdolg, Chr. 1454), which is likewise found in Old
High German and Norse. Thus Rood 46 :
on me syndon J>a dolg geslene ;
compared with Chr. 1107-8:
ond £S openan dolg
on hyra Dryhtne geseVS dreorigferYe ;
zziii
INTRODUCTION
also Chr. 1206-7 :
dolg sceawian,
wunde ond wite.
Another such Cynewulfian word is fiurhdrifan. EL 707
has:
)>eah ic ser mid dysige Jmrhdrifen wsere ;
and Chr. 1109:
swa him mid naeglum {/urhdrifan nrShycgende.
With these compare Hood 46 :
purhdrifan hi me mid deorcan nseglum1.
&. Certain kennings are common to the Hood and the
Cynewulfian poems. Thus (I add in brackets references
omitted by Dietrich) :
sigebeam, Rood 13, [127]: El. [420], 445, 665, 847, 86ir
965, [1028].
ivuldres trcoiv, Rood 14 : El [89], 828, 867, 1252.
ivuldres Mam, Rood 97 : El 217 (ivuldres ivyribeam,
El. 844).
beacna selest, Rood 118; wudu selesta, Rood 27: selest
sigebeacna, El 975 ; selest sigebeama, El. 1028.
feorgbold, Rood 73 : selegescot, hus, Chr. 1480, 1481.
hcefde Ms gast onsended, Rood 49 : his gast onsende, El
480.
c. Other parallels are :
(i) Rood 4 :
puhte me J>set ic [ne] gesawe syllicre treow.
1 It should be observed that dolg also occurs, Rid. 6", 57' ; dolgben,
An. 1399; dolgslege, An. 1177, 1216; dolhvmnd, Jud. 107; syndolh,
Beow. 817 ; dolgian, Rid. 6o11 ; and gedolgian, Rid. 54'. All of these,
except the Judith and Beowulf, would be regarded by Dietrich as
strengthening his case. Surhdrlfan also occurs : Sat. 163 ; An. 1399.
AUTHORSHIP
£7.72-5:
puhte him whitescyne on weres hade
hwlt ond hlwbeorht haele^a nathwylc
geywed Snlicra }>onne he ser o#5e stfS
gesege under swegle.
(2) Rood 14-7 :
Geseah ic wuldres treow
wajdum geweorSod wynnum scinan,
gegyred mid golde; gimmas haefdon
bewrigen weorSlice Weald[end]es treow.
El. 88-90 :
Geseah he fraetwum beorht
wliti wuldres treo ofer wolcna hrof
golde ge[g]lenged ; gimmas lixtan.
El. 1023-4:
Heo }>a rode heht
golde beweorcean ond gimcynnum.
(3) Rood 48 :
Ball ic W838 mid blode besteined.
Chr. 1085:
beacna beorhtast, blode bistemed.
(4) Rood 55-6 :
Weop eal gesceaft,
cwftklon Cyninges fyll ; Crist waes on r5de.
Chr. 1127, 1130:
Gesegun fa dumban gesceaft,
ond mid cearum cwrSdun, |-eah hi cwice naeron.
(5) Rood 78-9:
' Nu ^u miht gehyran, haale^S niln se leofa,
feet ic, &c.
XXV
INTRODUCTION
El 511-2:
Nu ^u meaht gehyran, heeled mm se leofa,
hu, &e.
(6) Rood 103-9 :
He 'Sa on heofenas astag ; hider eft funda)>
on )>ysne middangeard mancynn secan
on domdsege Dryhten sylfa,
selmihtig God and his englas mid,
j>set he Jjonne wile deman, se ah domes geweald,
anra gehwylcum, swa he him serur her
on jjyssum l*num life geearnaj).
CJir. 523-7 :
Wile eft swa-)>eah eorSan mseg'Se
sylfa gesecan side herge,
ond ))onne gederaan dgeda gehwylce
J>ara ¥e gefremedon folc under roderum.
(7) Hood 148-9 :
Hiht wses geniwad
mid bledum and mid blisse.
Chr. 1346:
bleed mid blissum.
Chr. 529-30 :
Hyht wses geniwad,
blis in burgum.
6. The Dream of the Hood is found in the Vercelli MS.
between the Andreas and the Elene.
7. The liberties taken with the Biblical narrative are
quite in Cynewulfs manner.
xx vi
AUTHORSHIP
Rieger's arguments. In the third section of a paper :
written in 1868, and published in 1869 », Max Rieger
expressed himself to the following effect :
1. The poet of the Rood (Cynewulf, according to Rieger)
actually had the vision he describes. He saw the cross
in a dream, and listened to words which form the basis
of the speech reported.
2. Inserting, with G>rein, rode before riht in El. 1241,
Rieger translates : ' I knew nothing right about the cross
until it disclosed to me greater knowledge by its glorious
power2.' He accordingly interprets this to mean that
the vision of the Hood poem led to the composition of the
Elene.
3. He brings 'guilty of misdeeds, fettered by sins8'
(above, p. xxiii)r into relation to Rood i^-i^:
s yi urn m fab,
forwundod mid wommunu
4. With the ' tormented with anxieties, . . . beset with
tribulations' of El. 1244-5.116 associates Rood i25b-6a,
I3Ib-2a.
5. Cynewulf was already old when he received this
illumination (El. 1247) ; hence we may not refer it to
any other occurrence than the vision.
6. Emending willum, El. 1252, to htvllum, he translates,
'which I formerly had employed with pleasure in the
1 'Ueber Cynewulf,' in Zeitschrtft fiir Deutsche Phildlogie i. 315-36,
313-24-
2 ' Ich wusste nichts rechtes von dom Kreuze, ehe es mir grOssere
Erkenntniss durch seine herrliclie Macht enthullte' (p. 314). Cf.
with my translation on p. six.
3 EL 1243-4 :
weorcum fth,
synnum asailed.
xxvii
INTRODUCTION
world' *. This means that Cynewulf had once been a poet,
but that the oppression of sin had closed the fount of
song. If ivillum be retained, Eieger admits that this
might refer to an experience like that of Caedmon, but he
adds that in this case the only poems referred to would
be the Dream of the Hood and the Ekne, for no others
could lie between the vision and the period when Cyne-
wulf was speaking. If the Dream of the Rood was really
Cynewulf s first poem, we should expect a clear statement
of this fact in that poem. As it is, there is no word in
the Dream of Hie Rood to indicate that Cynewulf was
a novice in poetry.
Ebert's objections. In 1884, Ebert published his views
on the Dream of the Rood2. His objections to the
attribution of the Dream of the Rood to Cynewulf are
these :
i I. In the Elene the discovery of the( other two crosses
/ is recorded, a»d the means ,by which that of Christ is
distinguished from them ; of this there is nothing in the
Dream of the Rood, notwithstanding the allusions in 70,
73> 75-
2. In Rood 46 we have the nails called dark, whereas
\J in El. 1 1 13 if. they shine like stars or jewels.
3. In the Elene there is no mention of the Saviour's
blood (cf. Rood 23, 48).
4. If the poet describes himself as old and ready to
depart, this trait is found elsewhere in Old English poetry.
5. Coincidences or similarities in expression between
1 ' die ich weiland mit Lust in der Welt gebraucht hatte,' where
the original has (1251-2) :
J>ses ic lusjum breac,
willum in worlde.
2 Ber. Sachs. Ges. Wiss., Phil. -Hist. Classe 36. 8r.
xxviii
AUTHORSHIP
two poems might be due not only to their common
authorship, but to
(a) Alliteration.
(&) The existence of a common stock of poetical ex-
pressions.
(c) Borrowing by the one poet from the other.
(d) Borrowing by both from a third.
6. The Dream of the Pood differs from Cynewulf s un-
doubted works in four respects :
(a) The frequency of hwceffre. This conjunction is here
used nine times, but only once in the Elene and six [really
three] times in the Christ. Here it shows an attempt at
binding the sentences together, contrary to Cynewulfs
practice *. In lines 24 and 47 it seems to be used in the
sense of autem, in order to indicate the mere continuation
of the narrative.
(6) The phrase mate weorode occurs in Rood 69, 124,
but nowhere else in the poetry.
(c) The simplicity of the language, and its freedom
from tedious repetitions2.
(d) The free handling of the Biblical narrative. This
had been already noted by Dietrich, who had cited Cfir.
507 [502 ff.] as an illustration. Ebert contends that this
is an embellishment rather than a change of the Biblical
account, and that any modification of the Scriptural
narrative in important points can neither be found in
Cynewulf nor be rightly imputed to him.
1 ' Es zeigt sich darin ein Streben nach Verlcnupfung-der Satze,
wie es Cynewulf durchaus nicht eigen ist, der vielmehr das
Gegentheil liebt.'
3 Dietrich had already said (p. n) : ' Rerum denominatio poetica
plerumque est simplex.'
XXIX
INTRODUCTION
Walker's objection. In 1888, Wiilker, commenting1
upon the newly-discovered runes belonging to the Fates
of tJie Apostles, inferred, from the fact that Cynewulf so
uniformly inserted his name in runes in his poems, that
the Dream of the Rood must be by another hand.
Trautmann's views. In 1898, Trautmann2 referred to
/Ur Ebert's opinions, and objected to 6 (a) that hwcedre may not
in all cases have been written by the poet himself, and to
6 (6) that weorod unmSte is found in An. 1221 and 1684.
He recognizes a considerable number of Cynewulfian
words and phrases, but declines to attribute the poem
to Cynewulf on the ground that Mm gebiddan (83, 122),
cwlftan (56), the comparative arur (108), and [a~\nforht wesan
(117) are unknown to Cynewulf; that there is a sur-
prisingly large number of verses with six stresses ; and
that Neom (22) must be pronounced as. two syllables,
while in El. 759 it is pronounced as one,
of evidence. We may now review the
evidence in favour of Cynewulfian authorship, adduce
other testimony or further considerations, and finally
attempt to form a reasonable conclusion.
The opinions of Kemble and Thorpe, since they are
so far astray on the subject of Cynewulf's epoch, need not
detain us.
Dietrich's arguments (pp. xvii ff.) may be taken up
seriatim :
i. That from the similarity of theme between the Elene
and the Dream of the Rood (together with the passage
1 Per. Sachs. Ges. Wiss., Phil.-Hist. Classe, pp. 40, an.
8 Kynewvlfj p. 40.
XXX
AUTHORSHIP
from the Third Part of the Christ) is sound, if adequately
supported by other considerations.
2. There is nothing in Rood 126 ff. to prove, or even
to indicate, that Cynewulf was -projecting a future poetical
composition on this subject. All that he affirms is
that the cross is the object of his devotion and hope.
Moreover, the epilogue of the Elene, while it does not
exclude the possibility of a reference to the Dream of the
Hood, by no means necessarily postulates any such earlier
poem. What is more natural than that he should have
meditated frequently on the cross before he wrote the
Elene ? We are- under no necessity of assuming that the
Dream of the Rood is the record of an actual occurrence.
If it is not, then the impulse to write the Elene is not
traceable to a vision which never took place. If it is,
then it marks either the beginning or the culmination
of a series of poetical and religious reflections, and in
either case belongs to a period at least as late as the
threshold of old age. If it marks the beginning of such
a series — if it indicates- the poet's conversion to Chris-
tianity, as we might say — then we must account for his
possession of the religious knowledge which would enable
him to experience the dream and to realize its significance,
and the poetical art which would enable him to embody
his experience in a poem of such singular perfection in
all but its closing section1. Did he have the religious
knowledge before he dreamed the dream? Then the
dream was at most the occasion, not the true cause, of
the poetry which he subsequently produced. Was he
destitute of such religious knowledge, unversed in theo-
1 Cf. The Christ of Cyneurulf, pp. Irxxii ff.
xxxi c 2
INTRODUCTION
logical and poetic learning, unpractised in mystical
contemplation, unschooled in the peculiar technique of
this species of poetry ? Then he could not have written
the poem that we know until a considerable time after
the vision appeared to him, and must have produced the
series of his undoubted poems, comprising not less than
3716 lines1 — more than the Beowulf— long after most of
his powerful friends had departed from earth. To credit
Cynewulf with such a feat in that age is to believe in an
achievement quite unparalleled in literary history, since,
even if we accept as fact the legends of Caedmon and the
Heliand poet, we are dealing only with metrical trans-
lation, and not with poems of the originality and power
which Cynewulf frequently displays. That an elderly
man should learn to versify Scripture can be accepted
without the hypothesis of miracle ; but that an elderly
man should have a vision which for the first time revealed
to him the riches of the inner life, and afterwards should
have become a scholar of remarkable historical and
theological learning for his epoch, a poet of vigorous
imagination, of unusual sublimity, of deep and tender
feeling, the founder of a new school of poetry, an
innovator in diction and technique, and the composer of
a body of verse considerably greater than the Beowulf —
this is asking us to believe what is otherwise quite
unexampled, and what we must therefore hesitate to
accept unless constrained by the most cogent evidence.
That Cynewulf should have written such poetry in his
1 Christ 1664 ; Ekne 1321 ; Juliana 731. If we add the 156 lines
of the Dream of the Rood, we have 3872 lines. This is almost one-
fourth the number in the Iliad ; more than one-fourth that in the
Dirina Commedia ; nearly one-third that in the Odyssey ; and nearly
three-eighths that in Paradise Lost.
xxxii
AUTHORSHIP
age— or what he regarded as age — is not incredible ; but
that he should have remained unconverted to Christianity
in its vital aspects until he was already old, and that
he should then have accomplished such a result in the
few remaining years of life, this is what taxes reason and
imagination to conceive.
We have not yet considered the possibility that the
Dream of the Rood marks the culmination (p. xxxi) of
a series of poetical and religious reflections, or, if not the
actual culmination, at least the religious and poetic
maturity of the author. This is rendered probable by
the admirable structure, the economy of treatment,, the
reserve of manner, the decision of touch, in the whole
poem to at least the end of line 146. Up to that point
it is no doubt the most perfect piece of art in Old English
poetry, and is therefore clearly not the work of a novice
either in feeling or in composition. But if it marks the
culmination of his spiritual activity, then it stands in no
such relation to the Elene asDietrich would have us believe.
3. It is true (p. xxii) that Cynewulf does speak of
himself, and it is natural on this account to associate him
with the author of the Dream of the Hood. This argument,
however, is subject to the drawback that lyric poetiy
commonly introduces the first person. Thus in Old
English, besides the translation of the Psalms, several of
the Hymns and Prayers (including No. 4, which has some
points of resemblance with Cynewulfian passages), the
Wanderer, the Seafarer, the Wife's Lament, Husband's
Message, Deor's Lament, &c. Nevertheless, none of these
bears any such close resemblance in tone and matter
to the Cynewulfian epilogues as that borne by the Dream
of the Rood.
xxxiii
INTRODUCTION
4. This (p. xxii) is undoubtedly a valid argument.
Cynewulf does represent himself as old in both poems.
5. The parallels between the Dream of tJie Rood and
the undoubted Cynewulfian poems (pp. xxiii ff.) may be
increased (those to doubtful ones in brackets).
Passing over (a), we may begin with :
(6) The kennings, especially those for the cross :
To the group containing the notion of ' victory ' (always,
no doubt, with ultimate reference to the Constantine
story), add :
slgebeacen, El 887, 994 ; wgorbeacem, El. 984, 1256 ;
sigores tacen,*EL 85, 184, 1120.
To phrases containing .wuldres :
[wddres tacen, An. 88.]
To the group of superlatives designating the cross, add :
•'beama beorhtost, Hood 6 ; beacna beorhtost, Glir. 1085
[and An. 242] ; tdcna torhtost, EL 164 ; marost beama, EL
1 012, 1224 [beside cefrdust beama, Men. 84].
There is a type of kenning represented by pact fuse
beacon, Rood 21, consisting of dem. + adj. + noun. This
is otherwise found as follows :
pat Mlige treo (trio), EL 108, 128, 429, 442, 701, 840
[Hy. 8 7] ; pcet wlitige treo, El. 165 ; ficet mare treo, EL
214; seo halig(e) rod, El. 720, ion, 1243; se halga beam,
Chr. 1093; se cefiela beam, El. 1073; seo hea rod, Clir.
1064; seo reade rod, CJtr. 1101 ; se leolita beam, Chr. 1089 ;
se beorhta segn, Chr. 1061.
Phrases in which ' high ' is applied to the cross are :
on gealgan Manne, Hood 40; cf. on heanne beam, Chr.
1446, Jul. 309, EL 424 ; on hean galgan, JuL 482.
For phrases like Dryhtnes rod, see note on 17.
For fcorgbold, &c., see note on 70.
xxxiv
AUTHORSHIP
To the references under gast onsendan might be added :
Jul. 310:
of galgan his giest onsende.
[An. 1327:
on gealgan his gast onsende.]
Chr. 1452-3 :
anne forlet
of minum lichoman lifgendne gaest.
[Cf. An. 187, 1416; Gu. 1277; Men. 171.]
(c) Other parallels :
With gestdh on gealgan heanne, Rood 40 (cf. 34), cf. /e
ic cer gestdg, Chr. 1491 ; on hira anne gestag, Chr. 1171 ;
[astag, dstdh, Chr. 727, Sat. 1549 ; stah, Hy. lo*8].
Under (3), p. xxix, add :
mid willan bestcmcd, and the note upon 48.
With rod w&s ic drared, Rood 44, compare the parallels
in the note.
For leohte beivunden, see note on 5.
For forivundod, see note on 14*.
For bifian, see note on 36.
For butu cetgadcre, see note on 48.
For sldan, see note on 49**.
With icraftra ivyrda, Rood 51", compare tcrttfra wita,
Chr. 8o4a.
With tvenida God, Rood 5ib, compare Chr. 407, 631.
With ahofon lime of 3am hefian wife, Rood 61, compare
El 482 : pa siffian icccs of rode alwefen rodera Wealdend.
For colode, see note on 72.
For bedcalf, see note on 75.
For Idifost as applied to the cross, see note on 88ft.
For ofer eall wtfa cynn, see note on 94''.
For mannum to hclpe, see note on 102.
XXXV
INTRODUCTION
For se ah domes geweald, see note on 107.
With Rood io8b~9, swa Tie him arur her on pyssum
laenum life geearnafi, compare Chr. 1233 b, swa hi geworhtun
cbr.
For ne mag fi&r cenig, see note on no.
For liter dead, see note on 1 13-4.
For Rood 117-8,
Ne j?earf 'Sair j>onne Jenig [a]nforht wesan
J>e him air in breostum bore's beacna selest,
see note on 118.
With of eorffwege, Rood 120, compare of eorffwegwn,
EL 736.
For bWe mode, see note on 122^.
With elm myde, Rood 123, compare micle elne, Chr.
For llfes hyht, see note on 126.
ic wene me, Rood 135 : Chr. 789.
For/«r is, see note on 139**.
wunian on wuldre, Rood 143 : Chr. 347.
lifforgeaf, Rood 147 : Chr. 776.
For fiam fie cer, see note on 149.
With 150-2 compare Chr. 577-81.
6. This point (p. xxvii) is invalidated by Wtilker (Grund-
riss, p. 193), who points out that between the Dream of
the Rood and the Elene are the Falsehood of Men and
certain homilies.
Kieger's arguments (p. xxvii) are in general sufficiently
covered by the foregoing comments upon Dietrich.
Of Ebert's objections (p. xxviii) it may be said in order :
i. The Dream of the Rood is too brief and too lyric
to admit of such irrelevant detail.
xxxvi
AUTHORSHIP
2. As to this poetic conception, the source of the Elcne is
also to be considered, which here has : ' Magna autem coru-
scatio de loco illuxit ubi inventa est sancta crux, clarior
solis lumine, et statim apparuerunt clavi illi qui in domi-
nico confixi fuerant corpore, tamquam aurum fulgens in
terra.'
3. Why should the Elene mention Christ's blood ?
4. See under 3, p. xxxiii.
5. None of these possibilities accounts for such
numerous and striking resemblances.
6. (a) This argument may easily be made to prove too
much. Thus in Part II of the Christ, which no one
doubts to be by Cynewulf, the conjunction ficette occurs
four times (451, 600, 656, 715), besides twice in Part I
(143, 417), and once in Part III (1155). Moreover, the
pronoun pcette occurs in 1588. But this form does not
occur anywhere in the Elcne. Hence, we might argue,
the Elene is by Cynewulf; therefore (Part II of) the
Christ cannot be. Or we might say : (Part II of) the Christ
is by Cynewulf, therefore the Elene cannot be.
(6) This has been answered by Trautmann (see p.
xxx).
(c) Many pages from Cynewulfs undoubted poems
possess this quality.
(d) This may be easily refuted by pointing to Chr. 558 ff. ;
in Part I, to i64ff. ; or, in Part III, to ii44b-6, not to
multiply examples.
Wulker's argument from the omission of the runic
name has its weight, but it is not easy to prove a negative.
To say that because a poet usually signs his name to his
work therefore he can never leave it unsigned, is surely
going too far. Besides, it is at least conceivable that
xxxvii
INTRODUCTION
the runes may have been lost ; were they not nearly lost
to our modern world in the case of the Fates ?
By way of comment on Trautmann's views, we might
adduce, as an example of biddan with reflexive dative,
EL 1101: 'btfd him engla Weard geopenigean uncu$e
wyrd.' If the point is that gebiddan with the reflexive
dative is not used in the sense of 'adore,' it might be
answered that there was no such occasion in the Cyne-
wulfian poems to introduce this notion. As for cwifian,
it occurs repeatedly in the Third Part of the Christ (891,
961, 1130, 1285, 1367); which, however, Trautmann is
indisposed to attribute -to Cynewulf. The comparative
cerur, while not found in the undoubted Cynewulfian
poetry, does occur in the Beowulf, and therefore belongs
to a period as early as Cynewulf; its employment or
omission is probably determined by metrical considera-
tions. If anforht wesan is not found elsewhere, it can be
replied that every poem of any length has words or
phrases peculiar to itself. The large proportion of ex-
panded lines must be admitted, but it should be observed
that a considerable number of those in the Third Part of
the Christ occur in solemn speeches, like the most of
those in our poem.
As to the disyllabic pronunciation of bleom, EL 759
would perhaps be improved by the omission of ond, which
would necessitate the disyllabic pronunciation of bleom ;
and this pronunciation is required in Sal. 150", Heoum
bregdaff. Moreover, the disyllabic pronunciation is the
older, and therefore is at least as early as Cynewulf.
Thus Sievers would emend ge/can, Chr. 1403, to a tri-
syllabic form (PBB. 10, 478), and Holthausen, following
Sievers, the Liffrea of Chr. ?5b to Liffrega (LitbL fur
xxxviii
AUTHORSHIP
Germ, und Horn. Phil 1900, No. n). If, then, the author
of the Dream of the Rood, not being anterior to Cynewulf,
is led by a metrical exigency to retain the original
syllabification of a contracted word, just as it is done
in another poem which dates at earliest from 800-850*,
we should not thereforevconclude that Cynewulf may not
have been that author. Note, for -example, how, in the
First Part of the Christ, sie is required in 280, and si
in 414 (Holthausen, supra,; how, in the Third Part, sg
rightly occurs in 1322, and sie in 1552 ; and how, in
the Elenc, sie must be pronounced disyllabic in 675,
though monosyllabic in 542, 773, .789, 817, and perhaps
elsewhere.
To sum up, then, with respect to the authorship of our
poem. The hypothesis which attributed it to Caedmon
is nil. The arguments in favour of Cynewulf, so far as
they possess validity, reduce themselves to four, all
originally formulated by Dietrich. They are these :
1. The Elene and our poem have a common theme,
namely, the cross.
2. Cynewulf is addicted to personal revelations, as his
epilogues abundantly show. He was almost a poet of
the Renaissance in his longing to be remembered, and
to be remembered by name \
It is true, he does not reveal the nature of his specific
1 Wiilker, Grundriss, p. 367.
3 It seems never to have been observed, as a trait of Cynewulf.s
personality, that he twice reckons it among the afflictions of the
damned that God never thinks of them any more. Thus, El. 1302-3 :
Gode nd syffCan
of Cam morOorhofe on gemynd cumaS ;
and Chr. 1536-7: jfales Drjhtnes gemynd
Cf. Milton, P. L. 6. 378-85.
xxxix
INTRODUCTION
sins, though he is ample in his confession of shortcomings
in general ; but he does, especially in the epilogue to the
Elene, give abundant and precious intimations of his
tastes and experience — intimations which must have
been lucid to his contemporaries, and which are not
wholly blind to us. Thus it may be admitted without
hesitation that the poet's references to himself in the
Dream of the Rood are quite in Cynewulf 's manner.
3. In both the Elene and the Dream of the Rood the
poet, in speaking of himself, falls into the elegiac tone.
His appreciation of the joy of life is keen, and his sense
of deprivation not less so. He feels poignantly the loss
of friends and of vigour, the waning of youth and its
delights, and under such circumstances is ready, nay
eager, to depart. This similarity is too striking to be
ignored.
4. The coincidences and resemblances between thja
Dream of the Rood and the Cynewulfian poetry are
numerous and remarkable. They can best be explained,
I believe, by the hypothesis of a common authorship ;
and this hypothesis is in some degree confirmed by the
introduction, at the close of the poem, of the theme,
familiar to Cynewulf, of the harrowing of hell. It could
only have been a poet with whom it was an especially
favourite topic who would have been willing thus to
impair the artistic excellence of his production.
Making all due allowance, then, for the weakness of
, certain arguments both pro and con, the balance of
1 probability seems to incline decidedly in favour of Cyne-
i wulfian authorship. Cynewulf was the first Old English
author of whom we have any knowledge to lay emphasis
upon the Invention of the Cross and Constantine's pre-
xl
AUTHORSHIP
monitory dream ; the cross glows in the firmament with
Christ's blood in another of his poems ; here, as there,
the cross is a visionary one ; as in the Elene, it is adorned
with jewels and gold ; and, as in both the Elcne and the
Christ, it towers high in air. There can be no doubt that
the motive of this poem is derived from the Constantine
story ; and we can conceive of no other Old English poet
at once interested in the theme, capable of such" variations
upon a favourite topic, and master of so much lyric in-
tensity, elegiac pathos, sublime imagination, and economy
of resources, all in combination. And if it is Cynewulf of
whom we must think, it is Cynewulf in the maturity
of his powers, rich with experience, but before age had
enfeebled his phantasy or seriously impaired his judge-
ment.
LITERARY CHARACTERISTICS.
The Dream of the Rood consists of an address uttered
by the visionary cross to the poet (28-121), introduced
by an account of its manifestation to him in a midnight
dream (1-27), and followed by two passages, of which the
first (i22-48a) embodies the reflections and sentiments
awakened in the poet by his experience, while the second
(i48b~56) briefly alludes to the feelings of the spirits in
prison at the harrowing of hell, and to the joy of angels
and saints when Christ returned in triumph to the
kingdom of His Father. The address of the cross
constitutes three-fifths of the whole, being about three
and a half times as long as either the introduction or the
poet's reflections, which have almost exactly the same
xli
INTRODUCTION
length. The concluding section, which has the air of an
interpolation, or of an inartistic addition by the poet's own
hand, is only about a twentieth of the whole. The poem
is complete without it, and it seriously mars the unity of
impression.
In the introduction are blended' reminiscences of the
cross under three aspects — as beheld in vision by Con-
stantine, as adorning the altar or borne in procession
by ecclesiastics, and as the sign of the Son of Man
revealed in the heavens at the Final Judgement. To the
first belongs the general conception of the vision ; to the
second may be attributed the definite statement regarding
the number and position of the gems ; while the last is
suggested by the presence of the heavenly host and the
size of the cross upon which they all could gaze.
The introduction falls into three parts. The first
(1-12) is narrative, and sets forth the vision itself. The
second (13-23) is lyrical, and discloses the poet's emotions
in the presence of the cross. The third (24-7) is a mere
transition from the vision to the voice. The second of
these divisions is contrived with much art, The argument
of it may thus be outlined : ' Yes, this was a cross of
victory and not of shame, a cross extraordinary in its
aspect and surroundings ; who was I, a wretch defiled
and wounded by sin, that I should gaze upon it ? Fail-
was the cross, it is true, and radiant with gems and gold ;
yet it was blood-stained too. I trembled at the view,
as now it seemed to be flashing in jewels, now streaming
with gore1.' Here, while the poet presents a motive
which is to recur later (80-91), he interests us at once in
1 See Chr. 1085-1102.
xlii
LITERARY CHARACTERISTICS
the contrast and in his own feelings, and thus arouses an
anticipation which the sequel is to gratify. The mood
of the second subdivision is prolonged into the third, and
the suspense is prolonged until finally broken by the
utterance of the cross.
The second part, the address of the cross, is unique
in its composition. The notion of representing an m-\
animate object as speaking to him who stands in its
presence, and communicating information or counsel^is
as old as the Greek epigram. This was originally an
inscription on a monument, a statue, or a votive offering
preserved in a temple, and not seldom represented the
work of art, or the dead who reposed beneath the monu-
ment, as addressing the passer-by !. The most famous
of these is the epigram by Simonides of Ceos (B. c. 556-468)
on those who died at Thermopylae :
Stranger, bear, tidings to the Spartans that here, obedient to
their words, we lie *.
Another, famous in antiquity, quoted by Plato', and
variously attributed to Cleobulus of Lindus (fl. B. c. 586)
and to Homer, is thus translated from the four hexameters
of the original by Colonel Mure :
A maid of bronze am I, and here will stand
On Midas1 tomb, as long as on the strand
The sea shall beat ; as long as trees shall grow,
Sun rise, moon shine, oV liquid waters flow,
So long by this sad tomb I'll watch and cry,
' Midas lies here ! ' to every passer-by.
1 The Latin Siste, viator, prolongs this use.
a *H £*«V, a.y~fi\\.ftv Aa/ttSeu/xov/oji ori rySt
xt'i^tOa TOIS Ktivtuv pT)f*affi irf
s Ph<edrus, p. 264 D.
xliii
INTRODUCTION
The following is Lucian's (circa A. D. 125-92) epigram
on the death of an infant, as translated by Cowper :
Bewail not much, my parents! me, the prey
Of ruthlesa Ades, and sepulchred here.
An infant in my fifth scarce finished year,
He found all sportive, innocent, and gay,
Your young Callimachus ; and if I knew
Not many joys, my griefs were also few.
Another, by Ausonius (circa A.D. 310-95), shows a
tendency toward epigram in the more modern sense, the
subject being Echo. The rendering, with the exception
of the last two lines, is by Lovelace l :
Vain painter, why dost strive my face to draw
With busy hands, a goddess eyes ne'er saw?
Daughter of air and wind, I do rejoice
In empty shouts ; without a mind, a voice,
Reviving last- formed sounds, I bid them stay,
And with unconscious converse love to play.
Within your ears shrill echo I rebound,
And if you'll paint me like, then paint a sound.
The epitaph on Virgil,
Mantua me genuit; Calabri rapuere; tenet nunc
Parthenope ; cecini pascua, rura, duces,
is well known.
The inscription on the gate of hell in the Divine Comedy
(Inf. 3. i if.) will occur to every reader.
Such epigrams in the first person are to be found in
every literary period since at least the fifth century.
Ovid puts one in the mouth of a parrot (Amor. 2. 6), and
there is another, perhaps spurious, at the beginning of
1 Dodd, The Epigrammatists, p. 91.
xliv
LITERARY CHARACTERISTICS
Her. 9. They were cast on bells (see Longfellow's Golden
Legend), carved or painted on the front of houses and
chapels in Germany and Switzerland, and engraved on
swords *. A famous one for a statue by Michael Angelo,
who adapted it from the Greek, has been translated
by Wordsworth2, one of whose two versions we re-
produce :
Grateful is sleep, more grateful still to be
Of marble ; for while shameless wrong and woe
Prevail, 'tis best to neither hear nor see.
Then wake me not, I pray you. Hush, speak low.
In the Old English period, too, objects were personified,
and fitted with epigraphic statements in the first person.
Thus Alfred's preface to his translation of the Pastoral
Care represents the book as speaking: 'Since King
Alfred rendered my every word into English, and sent
me to his scribes south and north,' &c. The inscrip-
tion on Alfred's jewel is well-known : JElfred mcc heht
getvyrccan3.
It was natural that crosses, monumental and other,
should receive inscriptions of this sort. Thus the Brussels
1 See, for example, the inscription on Ezcalibur.
8 Cf. Grimm's Life of Michael Angelo a. 157. Giovanbattista Strozzi
had addressed him in an epigram imitated from Anth. 4. 103 ;
Michael Angelo's reply was based upon Philost. i. aa, and runs
as follows:
Grato m'6 '1 sonno, e piii I'esser di sasso,
Mentre che '1 danno e la vergogna dura ;
Non veder, non sentir m'6 gran ventura ;
Per6 non mi destar, deh ! parla basso.
8 In an old copyof Lucian's Necromantia (n. d.) we read :
'Johannes Rastell [t'536] me fieri fecit.'
COOK xlv d
INTRODUCTION
reliquary, supposed to contain fragments of the true
cross, bears a couplet which has been thus translated l :
Rood is my name. Once long ago I bore
Trembling, bedewed with blood, the mighty King.
Lines 44 and 45 of our poem would be well enough
suited for epigraphic purposes, and so would the corre-
sponding lines of the Ruthwell Cross inscription. Moved
by this consideration, Kemble long ago suggested that
the Dream of the Rood might have been expanded from
such an inscription. This is the first of the alternatives
which he proposes in these words 2, the second being that
which we now believe to deserve the preference : ' Two
suppositions of equal plausibility may be made : first,
when we bear in mind the great improbability of any
cross ever supplying room enough for a very long in-
scription, and the great difficulty of carvingtone, we shall
readily admit that the Dream might not unlikely be
founded on some less voluminous original (an inscription,
for instance, on a cross), which was extended by the taste
or piety of the poet, with the addition of an introduction
and an appropriate moral. Or, secondly, we may think
it not unreasonable to suppose that, from some poem
similar to, or identical with, that of the Vercelli Book,
certain suitable passages were selected, and carved upon
the blank spaces of the Ruthwell and other ornamented
crosses3.'
The intrinsic probability of the first hypothesis is some-
what lessened by the' consideration that the Brussels
1 Cook and Tinker's Select Translations, p. 103 ; see note on Rood 44.
a Arch. 30 38.
3 Cf. Sweet, Oldest English Texts, p. 125.
xlvi
LITERARY CHARACTERISTICS
Cross inscription is apparently late, and that the suggestion
for it may easily have been derived from the Dream
of the Hood.
The personification found in epigrams of the sort we
have been considering is frequently employed in longer
poems, so that it is sometimes difficult to determine when
they cease to be epigrammatic or epigraphic in character.
An instance in point may be Longfellow's sonnet entitled
Ponte Vecchio. Developments at some length are to be
found, for example, in Wordsworth's Address from the
Spirit of CocJcermouth Castle, and in Tennyson's The Broolc,
TJie Talking Oak, and Helen's Tower, the two former by
Tennyson introducing the discourses of inanimate objects
in a frame of context somewhat after the manner of the
Dream of the Hood.
An important class of epigrams conceived in this form
is found in the collections of Latin riddles by Symphosius
(fourth or fifth century), Aldhelm (A. D. 640-709), Tatwine
(1734), Eusebius (eighth century), and Boniface (680-755).
All of these, except the first, were Englishmen. As
Symphosius had been indebted to Ausonius, and as
Ausonius had been indebted to the Greek Anthology,
so Aldhelm * acknowledged Symphosius as a predecessor,
and in some sense a model. The English tradition thus
instituted by Aldhelm was then followed by the others
mentioned, and, in turn, by the author or authors of the
collection of Old English riddles 2.
The Latin poets always, and the Old English frequently,
make the object describe itself. Aldhelm defends himself
1 ed. Giles, pp. 228-30.
2 See Ebert, Die Ratselpoesie der Angelsachsen, Ber. der Sachs. Get. dtr
Wissenschaften 29 (1877) 20 ff.
xlvii d 2
INTRODUCTION
by alleging the example of Holy Writ. The passage is
interesting, as justifying by Scripture a tendency tojviyify
inanimate objects, by attributing to them not only speech,
but deeds or sufferings, and even emotions^ TKiiTseems
like a mediaeval return to the Greek poetic mood, if it
is not rather to be viewed as a continuation of it in an
unbroken tradition ; but against this is a freshness and
vivacity in the best examples which is hardly equaled
in the best Greek period, and is almost lost in the
Decadence. Aldhelm says 1 : ' Porro quod etiam muta
insensibilium rerum natura, de qua aenigma clanculum
et latens propositio componitur, quasi loqui et sermo-
cinari fingitur ; hoc et in saeris literarum apicibus inser-
tum legitur, quia nonnunquam . . . irrationabilis [creatura]
sensus vivacitate carens intellectualium gestu et voce
fungitur.' He then refers to Judges 9. 9-15 ; 2 Kings
14. 9 (2 Chron. 25. 18) ; Ps. 98. 8 ; Isa. 55. 12 (44. 23).
Symphosius' riddles are each compressed within three
lines. Two are subjoined as specimens :
31. THE PHOENIX.
Vita mihi mors est, si coepero nasci,
Sed prius est fatum leti quam lucis origo ;
Sic solus Manes ipsos mihi dico parentes.
74. LIME.
Evasi flammas, ignis tormenta profugi.
Ipsa medela meo pugnat contraria fato :
Ardeo de lymphis ; mediis incendor ab undis.
1 ed. Giles, p. 229.
xlviii
LITERARY CHARACTERISTICS
Eusebius' lyth riddle, The Cross1, runs thus:
Per me mors adquiritur, et bona vita tenetur;
Me multi fugiunt, multique frequenter adorant ;
Sumque timenda mails, non sum tamen horrida justis ;
Damnavique virum, sic multos carcere solvi.
The English poets, even when writing in Latin, show
a tendency to greater elaboration of detail and vividness
of presentation, along with completer personification.
This tendency is already observable in Aldhelm, but
manifests itself most fully in some of the Old English
riddles. As an illustration take- No. 27 \
THE BIBLE-CODEX.
An enemy deprived me of my life,
Stripped me of worldly strength, immersed me then
In water, whence again he took me dripping,
Planted me in the sun, and there I lost
My nap of hair. The knife's keen edge then dressed me,
Sharpened with pumice. Fingers folded me,
And next the joyous quill traced eagerly
Across my burnished surface, scattering
The fluent drops along. Again it drank
Of the tinctured stream, again stepped over me
With blackening print. The craftsman bound me then
In leathern covers locked with golden clasps,
The wondrous work of artists. Thus adorned
With scarlet dyes resplendent, lo ! in me
The glorious abodes afar renowned,
The Shield of nations, and good will toward men !
And if the children of this world will use me,
1 Cf. Tatwine's riddle, in note on 28 ff.
1 Translation by Herbert B. Brougham, in Cook and Tinker's
Select Translations, p. 73.
INTRODUCTION
The happier, the surer of success
They'll be, the keener-hearted, and in thought
The kinder, and more fraught with wisdom. Then
More friends they'll have— their own familiar friends,
So good and true, and capable, and trusty —
Who will prolong their fame and happiness,
And hedge them round with graceful gifts, and fast
In bonds of love within their bosoms fold them.
Find out what I am called for men's advantage !
Famous in sacred story is my name,
Renowned 'mongst heroes, and itself divine.
The resemblance between the mode of representing
the cross in our poem and that employed in the Old
English riddles has not escaped observation, and by
Dietrich, who believed the whole collection of these
riddles to be the work of Cynewulf, it was used as an
argument in favour of his authorship of the Dream of the
Rood 1. As a matter of fact, it can hardly be maintained
that the narrative of the cross contains anything enigmatic,
but only that the mode of description, involving a quasi-
personification and an account in the first person, re-
sembles that of the riddles ; and now that scholars have
abandoned the hypothesis of Cynewulfian authorship
for the riddles, it only remains to note the apparent
genesis of the artistic procedure in this part of our poem.
With two of the riddles the opening of the address by
the cross (28-30°) shows a special affinity. These are
Nos. 54 and 72, describing respectively the battering-
1 Dietrich says (Disputatio, p. 1 1) : ' Praeterea non rara est rerum
descriptio aenigmatica potius quam diserte prolata. Sic non solum
plura, ut quae v. 48, 57, 69, 75 describuntur, nonnisi recogitando
de rebus et nominibus solvi possunt ; sed etiam ipsum orationis
initium. quo Crux naturam et originem suam indicat, aeuigmatis
forma exornatum est, cum refer at [vv. 28 ff.].f
1
LITER AR Y CHA RA CTERISTICS
ram and the spear. The second of these is mutiV
but enough remains to show the character of the com-
position. The former begins : ' I saw in the forest a tree
towering high, bright with its branches ; the springing
wood was gladsome ; water and earth fed it fair, until ' —
and then its change to the battering-ram is described, all
in the compass of thirteen lines. In the other riddle the
spear itself speaks : ' I grew in the mead, and dwelt where
earth and sky fed me, until those who were fierce against
me overthrew me when advanced in years.' Here the
poem numbers twice as many lines as the former. In all
these we are reminded of the Homeric sceptre (IL I.
234 if.), 'which,' said Achilles, 'shall no more put forth
leaf or twig, seeing it hatli for ever left its trunk among
the hills, neither shall it grow green again, because the
axe hath stripped it of leaves and bark.'
But indeed we are reminded of the descriptive art of
Homer in the whole conduct of this address up to line 77.
Just as in the account of the fashioning of Achilles'
shield (II 1 8. 478 ff.), or the bed of Ulysses (Od. 23.
190 ff.)1, the Old English poet gives us a narrative in-
cidentally suggesting— and suggesting with peculiar power
— the appearance of the object. Here it was a tree, hewn
down, removed from its stump, fashioned for its purpose,
borne away on men's shoulders, and fixed on a hill. Then
it is scarred with nails and wet with blood, is buried in
the earth, exhumed, and finally adorned with silver and
with gold. Throughout the whole the revelation of deep
feeling on the part of the wondrous wood enthralls us
with its intensity. It is in reality the dull and blockish
1 Cf. Lesaiug, Laokoon, chaps. 15, 16.
li
INTRODUCTION
framework which shakes, but is too firmly fixed to fall ;
yet at the same time it is the living creature which quivers
at the sight of its tortured King and Hero, the Lord of
heaven and Master of mankind, yet remains there, loyal to
His understood, though unexpressed, will. Over and over
is repeated — ' I dared not bow,' ' I must needs stand fast.'
When it was cut from the green forest the tree was a living
thing, and this life it seems to retain, only heightened
by its unique and extreme vicissitudes, throughout all
its experience. It feels like an angel or a poet, though
one is ever conscious that it is a severed tree, removed
by centuries from its leafage and its simple woodland joys.
Like Undine, it has gained a soul. It is still actuated by
the mere life of nature, but rendered sentient and intense
by the touch of the Author of nature, the touch which, by
an inverse process, darkened the sun in the heavens. In
this respect, then, it is not alone. The whole universe
sympathizes with its stricken Lord :
Forth went a shadow, black beneath the clouds,
And all creation wept, lamented long.
The concert of grief, in which 'universal nature did
lament ' her dying God, preceded the wail of His chosen
companions and followers. And it is significant that
this wail is soon over, for, 'o'erwearied,' they 'depart
from their great King.'
The poeJLJs not concerned to follow precisely the
Biblical narrative ; yet he does not blunder^ but merely
obeys the call of his art. He presents sharp contrasts,
yet with unity of effect ; with glooms and splendours
fashioned into a masterly chiaroscuro. Thus we are led
to infer (31, cf. 87, 88) that the Saviour's cross had
lii
LITERARY CHARACTERISTICS
already been used for the execution of felons, or had at
least been destined to that use. It is at the crucifixion,
and not several hours afterward ', that the earth quakes,
because the trembling of the earth is here to be contrasted
with the steadfastness of the cross. The sepulchre is
shaped before our eyes (65b-66), in order to enrich the
narrative by presenting to us the disciples engaged in
their labour of love; and for the same reason they
sing their song of sorrow. And so we have ignominy
contrasted with glory; Christ represented as a spirited
conqueror at the moment when He is touching His
death ; the self-control of the cross emphasized, as a
resolved, though reluctant, partner and instrument of
Christ's sufferings ; and a moment of comparative relief
introduced, when, the bitter agony being over, and the
throes of nature calmed, loving hands carve out His
tomb, and loving voices chant His dirge. If we add that
Christ's body on the cross is a blaze of light which
only the darkness caused by the Passion can obscure, we
shall see how skilfully every deviation from the Bible is
utilized.
Then, too, we may note the generalizing power displayed
by our poet in his account of the crucifixion — a power due
to the stress of his lyric passion, which attains unity by
picturesque conciseness. This is especially observable
if one compares, for example, the narrative of the cruci-
fixion in the Old Saxon Heliand, where the details of the
Biblical stoiy are rather expanded than compressed. In
the Hood there are just four stages of the crucifixion,
besides the erection of the cross. v Christ approaches ; He
i Cf. Matt. 27. 51.
liii
INTRODUCTION
h
ascends the cross ; the nails are driven, and the spear-
thrust inflicted ; and the world is darkened. Here ends
the crucifixion proper. There follow in order the descent
from the cross ; the fashioning of the new tomb ; the
chanting of the dirge ; and the solitary watch of the cross
by the grave, while the blood drips like tears. Two deeds
complete the action narrated in this part — the crosses
are felled and buried, and that of the Saviour is exhumed
and adorned. Here are ten successive acts, skilfully
chosen, clearly marked, impressively set forth, and con-
vincingly related — all within the compass of forty-four
ft lines ; yet the whole produces an effect of lucidity and
^ order rather than of "confusion and obscurity. -
But, after all, it is the rood's sheer humanity which is
the striking invention of the poet, and in this he sur-
passes all his predecessors, whether epigraphic poets or
celebrants of the cross. It rises to such a height of
sympathetic passion, its delineations of scene and mood
are so vivid, that we end by accepting it not only as
a partner with the suffering and triumphant Lord, but
even as His representative.
^ • Of the third part there is not so much to say. Thrilled
by the address of the rood, the poet, though aged and
forsaken, rises superior to his sorrows. He touches them
pathetically, it is true, but only to be dissolved in a
rapture of anticipation.
The conclusion, as has been observed, is in quite
a different manner, and seems alien to the prevailing
sentiment of the poem. It is cool and objective in tone,
and has no necessary and vital relation to what has
preceded. Pending further elucidation, we can only con-
clude that it has either come here by accident, or that
liv
LITERARY CHARACTERISTICS
the poet's judgement was at fault. The poem should have
ended with I4811, or perhaps better with 146.
Passing now from a view of its parts to a consideration
of the poem as a whole, it is remarkable how little light
is shed upon it by a comparison with the other dream- or
vision-literature of the Middle Ages. The earlier medieval
period knew scarcely anything but the visions of a future
life, which no doubt go back to the Book of Enoch, if
not to some more primitive source. But the account
of Fursey, for example, as given by Bede1, is of a quik
different order from this of ours. The allegorical dream,
such as we have in the Roman de la Rose and in Chaucer,
is also remote, and in general is much later f.
When we turn to antiquity, it is somewhat better ; but
yet we can find no prototype, even remote, for the Dream
of the Rood. In Homer there are lying dreams ; the
dream of Er, in the Republic, is worthy of Plato ; and th.
Somnium Sclpionis of Cicero was not without influence
upon the Roman de la Rose and the Dirina Commedia ;
but none of these could have affected our poem even
indirectly. Other notable dreams are recorded in Odys.
4. 839 ff. ; Herodotus 2. 139 ; 5. 56 ; 7. 12 ; Xenophon,
Cyr. 8. 7. 2 ; Pausanias 9. 23. 2 ; Livy 2. 36 ; 21. 22 ; but
none of them is an instructive parallel. For one thing,
c ir poet's dream was at midnight, whereas in antiquity
it is only the dreams of a later hour that are true
1 Ecd. Hist., bk. 3, chap. 19.
3 On mediaeval dream- and vision-literature, see Ozanam, Dantt
1 et la Philosophic Catholiqtie, pp. 324 ff. ; JJlhtdes sur lea Sources Poetiquet dt
la Divina Commedia ((Euvres, 2nd ed., 5. 349 ff. ; 6. 443-60) ; Romaniache
Forschungen 2. 247-79 ; 3. 337-69 ; Langlois, Oriyines et Sources du
Koman do la Rose, pp. 55-9 ; Kraus, Dante, pp. 426 ff.
Iv
INTRODUCTION
(Moschus 2. 2. 5 ; Horace, Sat. i. 10. 33 ; Ovid, Her. 19.
195-6: Dante, Inf. 26. 7; Ptmj. 9. 13 if.).
Since we are in search of dreams that betoken verities,
the Bible ought to be more to our purpose \ Of all that
are recorded, perhaps that of Jacob (Gen. 28. 11-18) bears
the closest analogy to the one before us, especially in
the combination of vision seen with utterance heard ;
yet even this did not inspire the Dream of the Rood.
If we consider Bede's account of Caedmon, we are struck
by one analogy, at least: in each case a command is
imparted to the poet to celebrate a particular theme —
in the first, the creation of the world ; in the second,
the redemption of mankind by the death of the cross.
As the one stands at the beginning of the Old Testament,
the other epitomizes the New. The later poet may have
had the earlier in mind, and may not have been unwilling
to enter into generous rivalry with him ; but there is this
notable difference— Cffidmon does not relate his own
dream, while Cynewulf, if it be Cynewulf, does.
More impressive to the imagination of our poet, how-
ever, than any other vision was that of Constantine,
first recorded by Eusebius 2 ; and his whole conception
may therefore be said to hinge upon that, though
Oswald's victory at Heavenfield 3, with its general analogy
to that of Constantine, had almost certainly continued
1 Significant texts are Num. 12. 6 ; 24. 3, 4 ; Job 4. 13 ; 33. 14-17 :
Ezek. i. i ff. ; Joel 2. 28. For the dreams recorded in the Bible,
see especially Gen. 7. 13 ; 20. 3 ; 28. 12 ; 31. 10, 24 ; 37. 5 ; 40. 5 ;
4151 Kings 3. 5 ; Dan. 254; Matt. i. 20 ; 2. 12, 13 ; 27. 19. For
visions, Gen. 15. 12 ; 2 Kings 22. 19 ; Isa. 6 ; Ezek. i ; Dan. a.
19 ; 7 ; Zech. i ; Acts 10. 9 ; Rev. i ; 4.
* A translation may be found in my edition of Cynewulf s Christ,
p. 190.
3 Bede, Ecd. Hist., bk. 2, chap. 3.
Ivi
LITERARY CHARACTERISTICS
to impress the English imagination from its date till the
period in question.
All other literary influences which may have actuated
him must be reckoned as inconsiderable in comparison
with the effect produced upon him by the circumstances
of his time, and perhaps especially by the iconoclastic
controversy, in which Charlemagne was involved, and
no doubt Alcuin as well. The exception made in favour
of the cross must have done much to stimulate stauro-
latry, since the tendency to worship some visible symbol
was too strong to be repressed. North of the Alps the
disposition to venerate the cross certainly received a power-
ful impulse about this time, as is shown by the poems,
for instance, of Alcuin and Hrabanus Maurus.
The Dream of the Hood, apart from its present con-
clusion, represents Cynewulf (as we believe) in the fullest
vigour of his invention and taste, probably after all his
other extant poems had been composed. Admirable in
itself, and a precious document of our early literary
history, it gains still further lustre from being indis-
solubly associated with that monument which Kemble '
has called 'the most beautiful as well as the most in-
teresting relic of Teutonic antiquity. '
1 Arch. 30. 39.
Ivii
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BOUTERWEK, Cfcdmon's des Angelsachscn Billischc Dicht-
ungen. Elberfeld, 1847-54. (B.)
BROOKE, History of Early English Literature. London
and New York, 1892. (Brooke1.)
English Literature from the Beginning to the Norman
Conquest. London and New York, 1898. (Brooke2.)
BROWN, ANNA K. In Poet-Lore, Vol. 2. Boston, 1890.
DIETRICH, Disputatio dc Crucc Rutliwcllensi. Marburg,
1865. (D.)
EBERT. In Berichte dcr Scichsischen Gesellschaft dcr Wissen-
scJtaften, Phil.-Hist. Classe, Bd. 36 (1884).
GARNETT, Elene, Judith, &c. Enlarged edition. Boston,
1901.
GREIN, Bibliothek der Angclscichsischen Poesie. Gottingen,
1857-8. (Gr.>)
-In Germania, Bd. 10. Vienna, 1865. (Gr.2)
Dichtungen der Angelsachscn. Gottingen, 1857-9.
GREIN-WULKER, Bibliothek der AngelsdcJisischen Poesie,
Bd. a1. Kassel, 1888. (W.)
HAMMERICH, De Episk-Kristcligc Oldkvad. Copenhagen,
1873. (H.)
HICKEY, EMILY H. In Tfie Academy, Vol. 21, London,
1882.
IDDINGS, Miss L. L. In Cook and Tinker's Select Trans-
lations from Old English Poetry. Boston, 1902.
KEMBLE. In Arcli(cologia, Vol. 28. London, 1840. (K.1)
Tlie Poetry of the Codex Vcrccllensis, Part 2. London,
lix
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1856. (K.2; the agreement of K.1 and K.2 is in-
dicated by K.)
KLUGE, Angelsdchsisches Lesebuch. Halle, 1888. (Kl.)
MICHELSEN, JElteste Christliche Epik (a translation of
Hammerich's book ; see above). Gtitersloh, 1874.
MORLEY, English Writers, Vol. 2. London and New York,
1888.
MOORSOM, Renderings of Church Hymns. London, 1901.
PACIUS, Das Heilige Kreuz. Gera, 1873.
KOBINSON, Introduction to our Early English Literature.
London, 1885.
SIEVERS. In Beitrdge zur Geschichte der Deutsclien Sprache
und Litteratur, Vol. 10. (Siev.)
Old English Grammar, translated by Albert S. Cook.
Boston, 1903. (Gram.)
STEPHENS, Old Northern Runic Monuments, Vol. 2. London
and Copenhagen, 1867-8. The part on the Euthwell
Cross also published separately, London and Copen-
hagen, 1866. (St.)
SWEET, Anglo-Saxon Reader. Oxford, 1876. (Sw.)
TEN BRINK, Early English Literature. New York, 1883.
(From the German edition, published in 1877.)
THORPE, Appendix B to Mr. Cooper's Report (see supra,
p. x). (Th.)
TRAUTMANN, Lynewulf, der Bischof und Dichter. Bonn,
1898.
WALKER, Grundriss zur Geschichte der Angelsdchsischen
Litteratur. Leipzig, 1885.
Codex Vercellensis. Leipzig, 1894.
In Berichte der Sdchsischen Gesellschaft der Wissen-
schaften, Phil.-Hist. Classe, Bd. 40 (1888).
Ix
THE
DREAM OF THE ROOD
Hwaot, ic swefna cyst secgan wylle,
h[w]aet me gemaette to midre nihte,
syo^jan reordberend reste wunedon.
puhte m6 J?aet ic gesSwe syllicre trCow
on lyft laedan leohte bewunden, 5
beama beorhtost. Eall J?set boacen wees
begoten mid golde ; gimmas stodon
fsegere set foldan scSatum, swylce J>ser fife wzeron
uppe on J?Bm eaxlgespanne. Beheoldon J?«er eng[?as]
Dryhtnes ealle
fsegere Jmrh forSgesceaft : ne wses tfoe[t] hard fraco[tS]es
gealga, 10
ac hine J>ser beheoldon halige gSstas,
i B. wille. a MS., Th., St., H. hset ; B., K., H. J>aet ; Gr.',
Sw., Kl., W. hwset. 3 B. siCOan. 4 D. ic ne ; MS.,
other Edd. ic ; B. syllicor ; Sw. sellic. 5 Gr.1 lyfte ; B. Ii5an/or
laedan. 6 B. ))is. 7 Th., K. end line urith faegere ; B.
emends to feowere, and so ends line; St. feowere, with the remark:
This change was first supported by Bouterwek, and appears reasonable from
the contrast with fife in the next line. The eye of the copyist probably took the
faegere /rom line 19 [10] ; Gr. (fiicht.} translates feowere, though his text
has fsegere ; H. feowere. Ebert approves of Boutencek's emendation on the
grounds adduced by St., and W. follows. 9 MS., Th., B., H., St. eaxle
gespanne; K.,Gr.', Kl., W. eaxlegespanne; Sw. eaxlgespanne; Gr.1,
Sw. J)83t ; MS., Edd. engel. 10 B., Gr.1, H., Sw. j-aet ; MS., other
Edd. J>ser ; MS., St., H., Kl., W. fracodes. n MS. Ac.
THE DREAM OF THE ROOD
men ofer moldan, and eall ]?5os msere gesceaft.
Syllic waes se sigebsam, and ic synnum fah,
forwundod mid wommum. Geseah ic wuldres treow
wJedum geweortfod wynnum scinan, 15
gegyred mid golde ; gimmas haefdon
bewrigen weortSlice Weald[end]es treow ;
hwaetfre ic J?urh J^aet gold ongytan meahte
earmra Jergewin, £>aet hit aerest ongan
swaetan on ]?a swltSran healfe. Eall ic waes mid s[o]rgum
gedrsfed ; ao
forht ic waes for })aare faegran gesyhSe. Geseah ic past
fQse bsacen
wendan weedum and bleom: hwllum hit waes mid
wiietan bestemed,
besyled mid swates gange, hwllum mid since gegyrwed.
HwaeSre ic j?ser licgende lange hwlle
beheold hrSowcearig Hrolendes trSow, 25
oSSaet ic gehyrde }?86t hit hleot5rode ;
ongan J?a word sprecan wudti sslesta :
ia Sw. menn ; MS. adds :/ after gesceaft. 13 MS. Syllic ;
Sw. sellic ; MS. Ic ; Sw. fag. ' 14 MS., Th., B., H., Sw. for-
wunded ; Th. wommu ; MS. adds : 7 after treow. 15 K.
geworOode ; Sw., Siev. geweorWod ; MS., other Edd. geweorOode.
17 K.*, Sw. bewrigen ; MS., other Edd. bewrigene ; MS., Edd. wealdes ;
D. (Disp.'), Siev. (PBB. 10. 518"! suggest wealdendes, which Kl. adopts ;
MS. adds : 7 after treow. 18 MS. HwaeCre ; B. ongitan. 19
B. ealdora ; B. note ()>urh) ylda (ealdora, or enta) aergeweorc
(sergewinn) ; MS., Kl., W. aargewin ; other Edd. -gewinn ; Gr.1 suggests
)>86r ; Sw. ongann. 20 B. makes a line of aob ; MS. surgum;
Th., B., K., H., St. sargum. 21 MS. Forht. 22 B.
bleo(u)m. 33 B., Sw. besyled; Kl. besylwed ; MS., other
Edd. beswyled ; MS. Hwilum. 24 MS. Hwaeffre. 27 Sw.
ongann.
THE DREAM OF THE ROOD
'paot waes gSara iu— ic £>set gyta geman —
ic wses aheawen holies on ende,
astyred of stefne mlnura. Genaman me Sser strange
feondas, 30
geworhton him j?Jer to wsefersyne, heton me heora
wergas hebban ;
baeron me Sair beornas on eaxlum, ofrSaet hie me on
beorg asetton,
gefaestnodon me Ipser feondas genoge.
'Geseah ic J?a FrCan mancynnes
efstan elne mycle J?set he me wolde on gestlgan.
pair ic J>a ne dorste ofer Dryhtnes word 35
bUgan otSt^e berstan, ^5. ic bifian geseah
eortSan sceatas ; ealle ic mihte •
feondas gefyllan, hwaet5re ic faeste stod.
'Ongyrede hine J?a geong HeoletS — ^c&t wsas God sel-
mihtig —
strang and stlSmod ; gestah he on gealgan heanne 40
inodig on manigra gesyhfte, }?a he wolde mancyn
lysafi.
a8 Ic ; B. gyt a. 29 M. wae. 30 K. swefne ; M. stevne ;
B., K., Sw. genamon. 31 Sw. weargas. 3a B. beron. 33
Sw. manncynnes. 34 Tb., K. ongestigan. 36 M. da. 39 ff.
The Kitthicell Cross has :
geredse hinae God alinchttig
]>& he walde on galgu gistiga
modig fore allae men ;
bug . . .
39 MS. Ongyrede. 40 S\v. gestag ; Gr.1 heabne. 41 S\v.
uianncynn.
q D 2
THE DREAM OF THE ROOD
B if ode ic £>a m6 se Beorn ymbclypte ; ne derate ic
hwaeSre began to eortfon,
feallan to foldan scSatum, ac ic seeolde faeste standan.
'Rod was ic arJered ; ahof ic rlcne Cyning,
heofona Hlaford ; hyldan me" ne dorste. 45
'purhdrifan hi m6 mid deorcan nseglum ; on me"
syndon f>a dolg geslene,
opene inwidhlemmas ; ne dorste ic hira amigum scetSftan.
Bysmeredon hie une bQtO setgsedere. Eall ic wses mid
blode bestsmed,
begoten of J^aes Gutna'n sldan, sitSSan he hsefde his gast
onsended.
Teala ic on J^am beorge gebiden hsebbe 50
wratfra wyrda : geseah ie weruda God
Dearie ]?enian ; J>ystro haafdon < .
** rK V^i J.-*1^-^
bewrigen mid wolcnum Wealdendes hrsew,
sclrne sciman ; sceadu forSsode,
43 8w. hwocSoro. 43 MS. Ac.
44 ff. The Euthwell Gross has : ic rii6nffi kyningc,
hoafunaes hlafard ; hselda ic ni dorstse.
Bismseraedu ungket men ba aetgadre.
Ic waes mi)> blodse bistemid,
bigoten of ...
44 MS. Rod ; M. areared. 46 B., K., Sw. Jmrhdrifon ; B. hie ;
B., Sw. deorcum ; B. sindon. 47 MS. Inwidhlemmas; K.1 in-
withlemmas, indicating a break before and after, and adding in a note :
The want of alliteration, and the context, both show this passage to be corrupt
and defective ; K.a note : There is no doubt something wrong here; probably
a line or two missing ; Th. note : This line [47a] does not alliterate with
the following one; H. hiran ; MS., Th., B., K., W. nsenigum ; Gr.1,
St., H., Sw., Kl. senigum ; M. sennigum. 48 K. om. unc ; K.1 eal.
50 Sw. fela. 54 K., Gr.1, St., Sw. hai-e no punctuation after sciman ;
MS. forS eode.
THE DREAM OF THE ROOD
warm under wolcnuiri. Weop eal gesceaft, 55
cwfCdon Cyninges fyll ; Crist waes on rode.
'Hwset5ere J^aer fase feorran c woman
to }?am JEftelinge; ic faet eall beheold.
Sare ic was mid [sorgum] gedrefed, hnftg ic hwseftre
J>am secgum to handa
eaftmod elne mycle. Genamon hie J>ff>r telmihtigne God,
ahofon hine of £am hefian wlte ; forleton me J-ft
hilderincas 61
standan steamo bedrifenne ; eall ic w»s mid strielum
forwundod.
Aledon hie Cser limwSrigne, gestodon him cet his Ilces
heafdum,
beheoldon hie $»r heofenes Dryhten ; and he hine
hwlle reste,
55 K.1 wan.
56 ff. The Ruthu-ell Cross has :
Crist wses on rodi.
HweJ>r» )>er fuste fearran cwomu
aej)))il80 til anum ; ic paet al biheald.
Sare ic wees inij) sorgum gidroefid,
bnag . . .
56 P. steape for cwi'don ; K.1 fyl. 57 B. hweeCre ; MS.,
other Edd. hweefere ; K., Sw. cwomon. 58 Sw. eeColo to anum ;
K.1 eal; M. call. 59 MS. Sare; Th. mid-gedrefed ; K. mid
gedrefed ; Or.1 supplies sorgum ; so St., H., Sw., K.I., W. 61 Sw.
hefigan. 62 ff. The Ruthwell Cross has :
. . . mij> strelum giwundad.
Alegdun hiae hiuao limwoerignaB,
gistoddun him cot his iicaes Aeafdum,
btheaidun hi<v }>er lieafun . . .
62 B. stano bedrifene ; K.1 eal. 63 MS. Aledon ; Sw. hine for
first Oeer. 64 Or.1 hi ^aer ; H. Caerheofenes.
THE DREAM OF THE ROOD
.
eefter ftam miclan gewinne. Ongunnon him fa
moldern wyrcan 65
beornas on ban[e]n[a] gesyhfte ; curfon hie Saet of
beorhtan stane,
gesetton hie ftjeron sigora Wealdend. Ongunnon him
j:a sorhleotS galan
earme on )?a sefentlde, ]?a hie woldon eft slftian
metfe fram }?am mjeran psodne ; reste hS ftasr msete
weorode.
'HwffltSere we" fser [g]e"otende gode hwlle 70
stodon on staftole, syftftan [stefn] up gewat
hilderinca. Hraiw colode,
fseger feorgbold. •
pa Qs man fyllan ongan
ealle to eorftan — ]?aet waes egeslic wyrd !
Bedealf Us man on dsopan s6a]?e. HwsetSre m6 ]?£r
Dryhtnes fegnas, 75
freondas gefrUnon ; [hie m6 |?a of foldan ahofon],
65 MS. Ongunnon ; MS. moldtern ; Sw., Kl. moldaern. 66
B. banan[a] ; MS., other Edd. banan ; Gr.1 on; St., H. 03; Sw.
beorhtum. 68 Th., K., Gr.', Kl. eftsiCian. 70 MS., Th., Gr.1,
W. reotende ; Th. notes that the lines do not alliterate; B. [h]reotende ; K.
geotende ; Gr.a, St., Sw., Kl. greotende ; MS., B., K., Gr.3, Sw., Kl.,
W. gode ; Gr.1, E. (?) rode. 71 Kl. omits sySSan ; other .Etfd. siSffan ;
MS., K. up gewat ; Th. uwgewat ; B. [an] up gewat ; Gr.1 [storm] up
gewat ; Sw. [storm] up gewat, later [stefn] up gewat ; Kl. [stefn] up
gewat. ^a Th., B. hilde rinca; K. hilde rinca [sum] ; St. hilde-
rinca [cored]. 73 B. feorhbold ; B. fte (P. se) us fyllan ; Sw.
ongann. 75 Sw. deopum ; B. hwaeSere ; Sw. Ca/orftaer. 76
MS. gefrunon gyredon; Th. note, Here at least two lines [one long line]
are wanting; B., Sw., Kl. assume the loss of a hemistich, K. that of a
line; Gr.1 emends as in our text; St. supplies fram me hofon.
6
THE DREAM OF THE ROOD
gyredon me golde and seolfre.
'Ntt $a miht gehyran, haeleft mln se leofa,
Ipsdt ic bealuwa weorc gebiden hsebbe,
sarra sorga. Is nu ssol cumen, 80
faet me weortSiatS wide and side
menn ofer moldan, and eall feos msere gesceaft,
gebiddaf him to fyssum beacne. On me Bearn Codes
f rOwode hwlle ; forfan ic frymfaest ntt
hlifige under heofenum, and ic hselan maeg 85
seghwylcne Snra, £>&ra J?e him bi?S egesa to me.
'la ic wses geworden wlta heardost,
leodum latest, ier]an ic him llfes weg
rihtne gerymde reordberendum.
Hwset, me fa geweortJode wuldres Ealdor 90
ofer hol[t]wudu, heofonrlces Weard,
swylce swa he liis mOdor 6ac Marian sylfe
selmihtig God for ealle men
ge\veort5ode ofer eall wlfa cynn.
'NQ ic }>e hate, hseletS mm se leofa, 95
fset t5a fas gesyhfe secge mannum:
onwreoh wordum fsot hit is wuldres beam
se $e BDlmihtig God on frOwode
for mancynnes manegum synnum
77 Gr.1 [and] gyredon. 78 MS. Nu. 79 Gr.1 note bealuwa
weorn (worn)?; Gr.a bealuwara -* baluwra adj. gen. plur. ; MS.,
other Edd. bealuwara. 84 P. \>ic rymfaest. 86 B. ealra/o>
anra. 91 K. holtwudu ; Gr.1 note holtwudu (?) ; MS., other Edd.
holmwudu. 95 MS. Nu. 98 B- Jrowade.
THE DREAM OF THE ROOD
and Ad[a]mes ealdgewyrhtum. 100
'DeatS hs £aer byrigde ; hwsetfere eft Dryhten aras
mid his miclan mihte mannum to helpe.
He tSa on heofenas Sstag ; hider eft fundaj?
on fysne middangeard mancynn secan
on domdsege Dryhten sylfa, 105
aelmihtig God and his englas mid,
)>oet hs £onne wile dsman, se ah domes geweald,
Enra gehwylcum, swa he him serur her
on J?yssum Isenum life geearna}?.
Ne maeg \>ser tenig unforht wesan no
for J>am worde f>e se Wealdend cwytS:
frlnetS h8 for j?jere maenige hwjer se man sle
se £e for Dryhtnes naman d6a?5es wolde
biteres onbyrigan, swa he ser on t^am bsame dyde ;
ac hie J?onne forhtiat5, and fea ])enca)? 115
hwset hie to Crlste cwetSan onginnen.
Ne J^earf fser )?onne senig [ajnforht wesan
J^e him »r in brSostum bereft beacna selest,
ac fuih ta rode sceal rice gesScan
of eorSwege seghwylc sawl 120
s6o ?e mid Wealdende wunian
100 Gr.1 and for; B., K. Adames ; MS., other Edd. Adomea.
104 MS., Kl. mancynn; other Edd. mancyn. 113 wolde cor-
rected from )>rowode by erasure of )>ro and addition of 1 above line.
114-6 Cam beame . . . hie to, written in smaller hand. 115
MS. Ac. 117 MS. Ne ; Gr.1 cm. Seer ; P. Jue ; B. amigum fyrht;
Gr.1 onforht; Gr.3 anforht; MS., other Edd. unforht. 119
MS. Ac.
8
THE DREAM OF THE ROOD
Gebaed ic m0 J?a to fan beame blltfe mode
elne mycle, J>aer ic ana was
maete werede ; waes modsefa
afysed on forfrwege ; feala ealra gebad 125
langunghwlla. Is mS nQ llfes hyht
£>aet ic Jrone sigebeam s6can mote
ana oftor fonne ealle men,
well weorfian ; me is willa to ??am
mycel on mode, and mm mundbyrd is 130
geriht to jrsere rode. Nah io rlcra feala
VtUTi*'\ /IP I, ,'
freonda on foldan, ac hie fortS heonon
gewiton of worulde dreamum, sohton him wuldres
Cyning,
lifiaj? nU on heofenum mid Heahfaedere,
wunia}> on wuldre ; and ic wene mS 135
daga gehwylce hwaenne mS Dryhtnes rod,
fe ic her on eortfon ier sceawode,
o[f] ]?ysson laanan life gefetige,
and m6 J?onne gebringe J?89r is blis niicel,
drSam on heofonum, J?ser is Dryhtnes folc 140
geseted to symle, fier is singal blis ;
and [m]e fonne asette ]>ser ic sy^an mot
wunian on wuldre, well mid J?am halgum
iaa B., K. )?ani. 126 Th., B. langung hwila. 127 MS.
hat ic over line in same hand. 131 MS. Nah. 132 MS. Ac ;
erasure of on after foldan ; Th. heoron. 133 Th., B., K., St. end
line with gewiton. 134 Kl. heofonum. 138 Gr.1 note of (?);
St. of; MS., other Edd. on. 139 MS. gebring. 143 B., Or.
(Sprachschatz) me ; MS., other Edd. he ; P. si80an.
9
THE DREAM OF THE ROOD
drsames brQcan. Si ms Dryhten frSond
se £e her on eor]?an aer frowode 145
on farn gealgtrsowe for gum[e]n[«J synnum ;
hs Qs onlysde, and Us llf forgeaf,
heofonlicne ham.
Hiht wses geniwad
mid blsdum and mid blisse, j?am Ipe aer bryne J?olodan.
Se Sunu wses sigorfaest on J>am slSfate, 150
mihtig and spedig, )?a he mid m[ce]nigeo cOm,
gasta weorode on Godes Bice,
Anwealda selmihtig — englum t5 blisse,
and eallum Sam halgum J?am fe on heofonum aer
wunedon on wuldre, fa heora Wealdend cwom, 155
selmihtig God, J? ier his e£el wses.
144 P. drihten. 145 MS. her; Th. aer; K. ow. her; P.
prowode. 146 MS., Edd. guman. 149 St. blaodum ; MS.,
other Edd. bledum; Gr.1 note ]>e aer(?) and suggests as an alternative
that possibly two lines on the Harrowing of Hell may have dropped out
between 148" and 148^; MS., other Edd. }>e J)8er ; K. polodon. 151
MS., Edd. manigeo. 152 o erased before on. 154 St. heofenum.
156 Last line on p. 106* of MS., ending with :"* Pacius follows in general
the readings of B. throughout. Michelsen follows Hammerich, except as
noted. Robinson prints i4b-56 after Gr.1, adding the error paet for
J>aet, 21.
No account has been made in the variants of the difference
between t5 and ]>. The abbreviation for m and n has been expanded
without notice ; the MS. uniformly represents and by the abbre-
viation.
A period followed by a capital seems to mark the end of a sentence or
a section after gegyrwed, 24 ; stod, 38 ; beheold, 58 ; fonvundod, 62 ;
gewinne, 65; seolfre, 77; cynn, 94; ongiunen, 116; rode, 131;
but not after gealga, 10 ; gedrefed, 20 ; gange, 23 ; iu, 28 ; sceatum,
43 ; selest, 1 18. There is a similar inconsistency with : 7 ; c/. after
gesceaft, 12, and treow, 17. Besides the foregoing, periods are common :
at end of line, thirty-two times ; at middle of line, twenty-one times ; often
standing for slighter pauses than the modern period.
10
NOTES
Line i. Hwaat. So begin Beowulf, Exodus, Juliana, Fates of
the Apostles, Andreas, Moods of Men, Solomon and Saturn.
2-3. Cf. Dan. 122-3 :
hwaet hine gemattte
Jenden reordberend reste wunode.
2. bwfflt. Grein's emendation is certainly right ; Stephens
supposes hcet to be an old form of hit.
gemStte. Cf. also Dan. 157 :
swa hia mandryhton gemirted wearC.
3. reordberend. 8089; Chr. 278, 381, 1024, 1368; El 1282;
An. 419 ; and see under 2-3 above.
reate wunedon. Cf. Beow. 2902 ; Ps. I3i15.
4. The two most striking parallels are Dan. 496 ff. (based
upon Dan. 4. 10 ff.) and El. 69 ff. The former describes the
vision of the tree whose height reached unto the heaven, the
latter that of the Shining One who pointed out to Constantino
fcbe Cross in the heavens. The latter runs :
j ii wearS on sla'pe sylfum eetywed
J>am casere, J>acr b.6 on corOro swaaf,
slgerofum gesegen swefnes woma :
}>uhte Lim wlitescyne on weres hado,
hwlt ond hlwbeorht, haeloCa nathwylc
geywed, trnlicra |>onne hS Sr oS8e sl5
geafige under swegle.
The first line resembles Dan. 496 :
f>a him wearO on slirpe swefen aetywed.
The second hemistich of the second line bears only a general
resemblance to 1. 3 above. All three poems begin lines with
fiiihte (him, me), while Elene and the Rood have each a com-
II
THE DREAM OF THE ROOD
parative (syllicre, ainlicra), and geseon in the opt. (gesege} gesatce}.
In both Elene and the Rood the vision is of the cross. Cf. my
note in The Christ of Cynewulf on 1084 ff. Possibly the poet
may have been stirred by the apparition of a blood-red cross in
the sky in the evening twilight of a day in 773 ; the OE.
Chronicle records : ' Her o^Iewde read Cristes mael on hefenum
aefter sunnan setlgonge ' ; cf. the account of a similar occurrence
in 806, a cross in the moon (only in MS. P).
io. In supporting his emendation to ic ne, Dietrich adduces
An. 498 :
Ic georne wat
J>set ic slfre ne geseah ofer ySlafe
on saeleodan syllicran craft.
He also compares An. 471 :
Nafre ic sielidan sC-lran ruette,
and El. 72-5.
syllicre. One is tempted to emend this to syllic (cf. 13),
but a line may possibly have been omitted by a scribe (cf.
El. 74, above).
treow. This designation goes back to the Gr. £\>\ovt Lat.
lignum, in Acts 5. 30 ; io. 39 ; 13. 29 ; Gal. 3. 13 ; I Pet. 2. 24.
5. on lyft leedan. Gu. 438 has : ' we )>ec in lyfb gelaeddun.'
Lcedan is.jioLotherwise used in the poetry in this passive sense ;
for the prose, cf. Oros. 138. 26 : ' J>a hie gesawan }>a deadan men
swa }>iclice to eor)>an beran,' and the other instances quoted by
Wulfing, § 409.
leohte bewtmden. So also Chr. 1642 ; cf. Ph. 596. It is
the Cherubim, in EL 733,
}>e geond lyft faraC leohte bewundene.
6. The line occurs also Gu. 1283, there of the light at the
saint's death.
beama beorhtost. Such superlatives occur also Rood 118:
beacnaselest; Chr. 1085; An. 242: beacna beorhtost (-ast) ; El. 164:
dcna torhtost ; El. 1027 : selest sigebeama ; El. 1012, 1224 : mcerost
beama ; Men. 84 : cefielust beama ; cf. also Rood 27 : wudu selesta,
12
NOTES
7. Cf. 16. El, 90 speaks of the cross as
golde geglenged ; gimmas lixtan.
Didron says (Christian Iconography i. 413) : ' It is to make the
cross a centre of light that it is represented as loaded with
diamonds and precious stones.' Not to mention the Sign of the
Son of Man at the Last Day (Chr. 1085, &c.), Constantine's
vision gives occasion to such descriptions ; see my note on
Chr. 1085, note 4 above, and .Mfric, Horn. 2. 304 : ' Da geseah he
on swefne, on Sam scinendan eastdsele, Drihtnes rodetacn deor-
wurSlice sclnan.' Cf. ^Elfric, Lives of Saints 2. 192 (St. Eustace) :
' Betwux Jises heortes hornum glitenode gellcnys )>sere halgan
Cristes rode beorhtre [MS. breohtre] J>onne sunnan leoma, and
seo anllcnysse ures Drihtnes Haelendes Cristes ; ' also 2. 150 :
'Hi ... beheoldon sarige sona to heofonum, and gesawon
Drihtnes rode deorwurfclice J>aer sclnan, and Godes engel hi
bser.' Add Martyr., ed. Herzfeld, p. 206 : ' Heo geseah eac Jiset
englas hofon up ongean hyre [Hilda's] gast swy^e micle ond
wundorlice Crystes rode, ond seo scean swa heofones tungol ' ;
cf. Bill, der Ags. Prosa 3. 214. It is noteworthy that the
Antiphon of the Magnificat for Vespers on the Feasts of the
Invention and Exaltation of the Cross (May 3 and September
14) begins : ' 0 crux splendidior cunctis astris.'
begoten. Note the artistic variation between this and 49 ;
nowhere else in OE. poetry in this sense, and only El. 1248 in
another.
mid. Common in this poem in the instrumental sense : 14.
16, 20, 22, 23, 46, 48, 53, 59, 62 ; but 5, 15, 62, 77.
8-10. This is the first group of long lines, with which cf. 20-
3. 30-4. 39-43. 46-9> 59-69. 75. J33- Vigfusson and Powell
(Corpus Poeticum Boreale I. 435) think that the long lines
belong to a more primitive poem. They say : ' In the Lay of
the Rood, attributed to Csedmon, as it seems, on the Ruthwell
Cross, we have the purest extant piece of poetry in this metre.
In the Vercelli Book, in which it is preserved, there is tacked
on to it another poem on a somewhat similar subject, but wholly
13
THE DREAM OF THE ROOD
different in style and metre, which may very possibly be
Cynewolf s.' On this view see my article ' Notes on the Ruth-
well Cross' (Pub. Mod, Lang. Assoc. of America 17. 375 ff.).
Add the remarks of T. Gregory Foster (Judith, p. 36) : ' The
absence of such lines in the oldest parts of the Beoiculf, and in
a poem like the Battle of Maldon, seems to point to the conclu-
sion that they were foreign to the real English folk-song. These
songs were accompanied with music of the "gleobeam," and
thus, if the accompaniment were to be really harmonious, an
occasional lengthening of the lines was impossible. In simple
recitation, which was probably more used for religious poems,
the expanded line would be introduced, but, as we have seen
above, only occasionally, and not in its longer form.1 He
subjoins (p. 40) : 'Expanded lines are used to relate the main
incidents of the story.'
8. feegere. It is no argument against fcegere here to say
that it occurs two lines below ; repetition is common through-
out the poem. Feowere would, it is true, form a good antithesis
to fife, but it is difficult to see just how four jewels would be
placed at the foot of the cross, or at least why there should be
just four there. Ebert (p. 83) thinks of the foot-rest of the
crucifix, and assumes tha.t the poet designated this by folde,
so that foldan sceatas would mean the corners of this suppe-
daneum. This view is hardly worth refutation.
foldan sc§atum. So 43, cf. 37 ; the combination is not
unusual in the poetry. Sweet (A. S. Reader) translates cet
I foldan sceatum by 'at the surface of the earth '=' at the foot
\ of the Cross.'
swylce. So, too.
J?jer. An expletive use must be recognized in the poem,
though it may be hard to distinguish with certainty all the cases
in which it is thus employed ; cf. n, 30, 31, 32, 33, 35, 64, 70.
fife. No doubt at the junction of the two beams, in the
form of a quincunx, one gem being placed in the centre. Cf.
the Golden Legend (Temple Classics) 1. 74: 'Whereof saith
S. Bernard : In that Jesus showed the more great virtue of
14
NOTES
patience, he commanded humility, he accomplished obedience,
he performed charity. And in sign of these four virtues the
four corners of the cross be adorned with precious gems and
stones. And in the most apparent place is charity, and on
the right side is obedience, and on the left side is patience,
and beneath is h.umility, the root of all virtues.'
9. eaxlgoapanne. Eaxl~, and not eaxle-, is the combining
form of the word, if we may judge from eaxlgestealla in the
Beowulf, Elene, and Riddles. It is just possible we should write
eaxle gespanne.
Beheoldon f>«er. Cf. u, and 25, 58.
englas. The MS. form is probably to be accounted for by
the frequency of the Biblical expression, ' angel of the Lord,'
as in Gen. 1 6. 7 ff.; 22.11; Exod. 3. 2; Matt. 1.20, &c.; cf.Gen.
2267. On the other hand, see Ps. 103. 20 ; Gen. 28. 12; 33. I ;
Ps. 91. u ; Matt. 13. 41, &c. Engel as plural is not found, butr
the plural is required by the verb, and by gastas, 1. 1 1.
10. ftegere. Hardly an adverb, if one regards either the verb
or the following phrase.
forSgesceaft. Of the three meanings, (i) creature(s), >
(2) future, (3) bliss (?), assigned by the dictionaries for this
word, the first accords best with the context. I would render
by ' creation ' ; the angels were ' created fair.' This rendering
is confirmed by ^Ifric, Horn. i. 10, where he speaks of the
angels as ' wlitige, on micelre fsegernysse gesceapene ' ; of
Lucifer he says : ' Da wses f>ses teo'San werodes ealdor swfiSe
faeger and wlitig gesceapen ' ; and of the angels who became
devils : 'HI ealle wurdon awende of )>am fsegeran hlwe }>e hi on
gesceapene waeron ' ; and again : ' for-!6i-¥e God hi geworhte to
wlitegum engla gecynde.' In the Genesis, God is said to have
created Lucifer fair :
Haefde he bine swa hwltne geworhtne ;
swa wynlic wees his \vsestm on heofonum, J>set him com
from weroda Drihtne ;
gellc waes hs }>am ICohtum steorrum.
15
THE DREAM OF THE ROOD
Lucifer boasts :
cweeC |>86t his lie ware ISoht and sc6ne.
Sweet renders burh forftgesceaft by 'through the future, in
eternity.'
Cast. Used as in W id. 67 : 'nses J>set ssene cyning'; Ps. 89":
' nis J>set manna aenig ' ; cf. Rood 28, 39, 74.
fraco$es. Wulker retains the MS. reading, with the
remark : ' Da sich vom Adj. fracod neben/raco^ findet, so durfen
wir wol auch fur das Substantiv beide Formen ansetzen. Eine
Aenderung ist daher unnotig.' To this it may be replied:
(i) the etymology favours & (Gram. 43. n. 4) ; (2) Sievers
recognizes no d in the word (Gram. 201) ; the poetry has
apparently d only in Beow. 1575, and this may well be a graphic
error. Besides, is noifracofres an adj. here ?
gealga. A comparatively infrequent designation of the
cross. With the hemistich cf. 40.
11. ao. Implying that the angels would not have paused to
gaze upon the cross of a malefactor.
hine. No doubt gealga, but cf. 64.
halige gastaa. Angels. So Gen. 2399 ; cf. Sat. 653 ; Gu.
60, 1215 ; Dan. 237, 526 ; Gen. 2430.
12. So 82.
men ofer moldan. Similarly Ph. 33 ; An. 1581 ; Hy. 3" ;
Chr. 421 ; Gu. 1203.
J>eos mare gesoeaft. In Met. ii78 it signifies 'universe,'
and so doubtless here.
gesceaft. Cf. 55.
13. Syllic. Cf. 4.
sigebeam. Only 127, and seven times in the Elene ;
similar compounds in the Elene, and nowhere else in the poetry,
are sigebeacen, El. 887, 994 ; sigorbeacen, El. 984, 1256 ; cf. sigores
tdcen, El. 85, 184, 1120. ^Elfric, Lives of the Saints, i. 374, has
sigebeacn. These expressions all refer, of course, to the victorious
sign seen by Constantino.
16
MOTES
I3b-i4a. Cf. Sat. i56b-7a :
Nu ic eom dSdum fah,
gewundod mid wommum.
14*. forwundod. For the form cf. gitcundced, Ruth. Cr.
under 62 ff., and Gram? 414. note 4. In this sense Sat. 131 ;
Hy. Is : synnum forwundod, cf. Sat. 157 ; otherwise Rood 62. Cf.
synwund, Chr. 757, and see Chr. 763, 770, 1313, 1321 ; Jul. 355,
710 ; El. 514 ; An. 407 ; P*. C. 51, 141, 154 ; Alms 9; Hy. 6*°.
The suggestion seems to come from Eph. 6. 16— cf. Cftr. 756 ff.,
and notes— and its employment in OE. poetry to be peculiarly
Cynewulfian (Chr., Jul., El., An.) ; see El. 1242* ff.
I4b-i7. Cf. El. 88-90 :
Geseah hS fratwum beorht
wlitig wuldres tr6o ofer wolcna hrOf
golde geglenged ; gimmas lixtan.
Cf. El. 1023-4.
i4b. Qeseah ic. So 21, 33, 51.
wuldres treow. See last quotation, and El. 827, 866, 1251 ;
cf. Rood 97.
15. Wffldum. Cf. 22. Ebert (p. 85) thinks of silken cords or
tassels, supporting his conjecture by the fact that once in
a gloss (WW. 450. 33) wcede glosses mataxa, and that proces-
sional crosses are occasionally pictured as hung with small
chains (Martigny, Diet, des Antiqq. Chrttiennes, p. 187 ; cf.
Zockler, Das Kreuz Christi, p. 207 ; Bosio, Roma Sotten-anea,
p. 131, &c.). The objections to this argument are (i) that
mataxa in these glosses nowhere else means rope, but either
bed or heckle ; (2) that chains and ropes are not identical. It
is at least as natural to think of Eusebius' description of the
Labarum, which includes the following : ' From the transverse
piece which crossed the spear was suspended a kind of streamer
of purple cloth, covered with a profuse embroidery of most
brilliant precious stones ; and which, being also richly inter-
laced with gold, presented an indescribable degree of beauty to
COOK I <7 C
THE DREAM OF THE ROOD
the beholder. This banner was of a square form.' Would not
such a streamer suit better the first hemistich of 22 ?
16. gegyred. See 23.
gimmas. Curious is the figure in Bl. Horn., pp. 9, 10 :
' He sealde his £one readan gim, fset waes his j>aet halige blod.'
17. "Wealdendes treow. The emendation is justified by 25
and 136, but especially by 53 ; cf. JEfrelcyninges rod, EL 219 ;
Cristes rod, Gu. 151, An. 1337, El. 972 (?) ; iisses Dryhtnes rod.
Chr. 1084 ; rod . . . Rodorcyninges, El. 624 ; Cristes rode tacn,
El. 104 ; Rodorcyninges beam, El. 886 ; Heofoncyninges tacen,
El. 170-1 ; Godes tacen, Jul. 491 ; beacen Godes, El. 109. For
Wealdend cf. 53, in, 121, 155.
18. hwaeftre ic. So 24, 38 ; cf. ic hwcedre, 42, 59 ; hwceftre me,
75 ; hwceoere, 57, 70, 101.
ongytan meahte. Cf. Beow. 1911 : ongitan medhton.
19. earmra. Not ' sufferers ' (K.), but no doubt the adver-
saries of Christ ; cf. 30-48. For this general sense see Gu. 268,
310, 376, 408, 547, 658 ; Ph. 412 ; Sal. 494 ; Sat. 73.
«ergewin. Cf. 65, and ealdgewin, El. 647. The historic
strife of these adversaries with the Son of God, as a designation
of his crucifixion. Cf. the use of gewin, Gen. 322-3 :
Lagon J)a oSre fynd on )>am fyre, J)e cer swa feala haefdon
gewinnes wift heora Waldend.
Similarly Gen. 296 ; Gu. 86, 105, 934 ; Jul. 421 ; Moods 59 ;
Gifts 89. B. translates 19* by ' der Fiirsten Erzschatz,' equating
it with gold.
J?ffit. Introducing an object clause after ongitan, or a con-
secutiva clause ?
eerest ongan. Apparently denoting the pluperfect, ' that
j it had once bled ' (cf. 48b) ; on this theory the blood of 22, 23
would be visionary at a second remove, as the cross before the
1 poet gave way to the reminiscence of that on which Christ
suffered. Ebert conceives this differently. He says (p. 83) :
' . . . zumal er . . . erkennen konnte . . . dass der Bauin auf der
rechten Seite zu bluten begonnen. . . . Das Kreuz, das dem
18
NOTES
Dichter bei seiner Darstellung vorschwebte, ist, wie sich aus ihr
ergiebt, eine blutroth gefiirbte crux gemmata.' He adduces
the lines from Paulinus of Nola, A. D. 353-431 (Epist. 32,
cap. 14) :
Ardua floriferae crux cingitur orbe conmae,
Et Domini fuso tincta cruore rubet.
And again (cap. 17) :
Inter floriferi caeleste nemus Paradisi,
Sub cruce sanguinea niveo stut Christus in? agno.
To which might be added Fortunatus, 'Vexilla Regis prodeunt1 :
Arbor decora ct fulgida,
Ornata Regis purpura.
But this would not necessarily prove that the cross which
speaks is actually blood-red. Why, for example, should the
cross then bleed on the right side, and how reconcile such
a supposition with the use of eerest ? An. 12, Gen. 30 afford
but little help. The hwilum . . . hwilum points to an alternation \
from memory to vision, not to a visionary cross at once crimson /
and jewelled ; cf., for example, Chr. 646-8.
Ebert's other illustrations deserve notice. One is the fine
description occurring in Egbert's (d. 766) Pontifical (Surtees
Society, No. 26) : ' Radiet hie Unigeniti Filii tui splendor
divinitatis in auro, emicet gloria passionis in ligno ; in cruore
rutilet nostrae mortis redemptio ; in splendore cristalli,' &c.
The other is the first line of Tatwine's (d. 734) riddle on the
cross (cf. note on 28 ff.) :
Versicolor cernor nunc, nunc mihi forma nitescit.
Ebert says : ' Versicolor ist purpurn, und das nitescere weist auf
die Geinmen bin ' ; but neither statement is quite convincing.
More pertinent is Cynewulf s description of the sign of the Son
of Man at the last day, Christ 1081-9 (I quote Whitman's
translation) : ' There shall sinful men, sad at heart, behold the
greatest affliction. Not for their behoof shall the cross of our
Lord, brightest of beacons, stand before all nations, wet with
the pure blood of heaven's King, stained with His gore, shining
19 C 2
/I
THE DREAM OF THE ROOD
brightly over the vast creation. Shadows shall be put to flight
when the resplendent cross shall blaze upon all peoples.'
20. aweetan. Only here as •' bleed ' ; cf. 23. Pacius says
that in Switzerland ' sweat ' still = ' blood ' as a term of venery.
Is there in this word, and in swat, always a reference to the
bloody sweat of Gethsemane ?
awitSran. Probably the left side from the spectator's
standpoint. Didron (i. 413) gives, as one of the characteristic
attributes of God the Son, ' a simple mantle, . . . thrown open
to show the wound in the right side,' and Neale says (Neale and
Littledale, Comm. on the Psalms i. 305) : ' All but universal
tradition represents it as inflicted on the right side ' ; cf. 2.
549. This is due to the mediaeval love of symbolism ; the
centurion represents the primitive Church, whose place was on
the right (see Male, VArt religieux du XIIIs siecle en France,
Paris, 1898, pp. 247-250).
Ball ic wees mid .... So 48b, 62h ; in this use nearly an
adverb. For the order cf. 6b, 2ia, 58*.
Ball. Cf. also 37, 55.
ic wees mid sorgum gedrefed. So 59 ; cf. Jud. 88.
21. With 2ia cf. El. 96-8 : ' Cyning wses j>y blrSra . . . Jmrh
J>a faegeran gesyh¥,' the vision here also being that of the cross.
gesyhtSe. Cf. 96.
Qeseah ic . . . . Cf. geseah he . . . , El. 87.
J?fflt fuse beacen. With this form cf.ficet halige treo (trio},
El. 108, 128, 429, 442, 701, 840 ; Hy. 8" ; beet wlitige treo, El.
165 : beet mcere treo, El. 214 ; seo halig(e) rod, El. 720, ion, 1243;
se cefiele beam, El. 1073 ; se hdlga beam, Chr. 1093 ; se leohta beam,
Chr. 1089; seo hea rod, Chr. 1064; seo reade rod, Chr. 1101 ; se
beorhta segn, Chr. 1061. Note that with one exception all these
are by Cynewulf.
fase. Perhaps best rendered by ' mobile.'
beacen. So 6, 83, 118 ; El. 92, 100, 109, 162, 784, 842,
1194; Chr. 1085; An. 242, 1203; Gu. 1283; besides the com-
pounds with sige and sigor, for which see note on 60. As beacen
20
NOTES
f
(like tdcen and segn) literally means * sign,* as its combination
with sige-, sigor- points to the words * in hoc vince,' and as it is
employed to translate signum in the immediate context of this
command, it is natural to suppose that it is to the author of the 1
Elene we must look as the introducer and disseminator of this
class of expressions in OE. poetry. We might think of the
' sign of the Son of Man,' Matt. 24. 30, as responsible for these
terms, except that (i) it has no direct connexion with any of
these passages except Chr. 1084, and in that poem beacen is
used only once, as against twelve times in the Elene, and four
in the Rood ; (2) the extamt prose translations of the Biblical
verse are subsequent to the date of the poetry.
22. wendan. This passive or middle sense only in Deor 32 ;
Rim. Poem 59. Cf. note on l&dan, 5.
"bleom. TbjLGolQurs of goldT jewels, and blood. This form v
is used by Cynewulf, El. 759 ; Chr. 1391.
mid wStan bestemed. Cf . 48b. Cicero speaks of a cross (In
Verr. 4. 1 1. 26), ' quae etiam nunc civis Romani sanguine redundat.'
23. besyled. Only El. 597, and there, as here, misspelled.
The word is another link between the two poems. In the prose
it is found Boeth. 40. 2 (Sedgefield's ed.), as besyled (cf. OHG.
bisulian). Sievers (Gram. 400. n. 2) recognizes only (be)sylian,
not besivylian or besylwan.
swates. The blood shed byjChrist is called swat in Chr. \y
XIII, 1449-50 (of. 1458); An.gGQ; Gu. 493 ; Sat. 545. Perhaps/
originally from Luke 22. 44.
gauge. Flow. Not elsewhere in this sense.
24. HwffltSre. Merely to continue the narrative, without adver-
sative force, according to Ebert (p. 91), and so 57, and perhaps 70.
hwile. So 64, 70, 84.
25. hreowcearig. Only Jul. 536 ; Chr. 367 ; Gu. 1026.
26. otStSeet. So 32.
27. wudu selesta. Cf. Fortunatus :
Crux fidelis, inter omnes
Arbor una nobilis.
21
THE DREAM OF THE ROOD
wudu. Not elsewhere in the poetry in this sense.
28 ff. Dietrich thinks of this as a sort of riddling statement,
not to be understood without independent knowledge of the
facts, and compares 48, 57, 69, 75. His words are : ' Non rara
est rerum descriptio aenigmatica potius quam diserte prolata.'
And again, referring to the passage here : ' Ipsum orationis
initium, quo Crux naturam et originem suam indicat, aenigma-
tis forma exornatum est.' This may be better understood by
a comparison with Tatwine's riddle, De Cruce Christi :
Versicolor cernor nunc, nunc mihi forma nitescit :
Lege fui quondam cunctis iam larvula servis,
Sed modo me gaudens orbis veneratur et ornat.
Quique meum gustat fructum, iam sanus habetur,
Nam mihi concessum est insanis ferre salutem ;
Propterea sapiens optat me in fronte tenere.
i The word larvula (larbula), in line 2, is interpreted in Napier's
, 1 OE. Glosses (Anec. Oxon.) 23. 2, as puca, ' goblin,' Eng. puck,
'.and in the Wright- Wiilker Vocabularies as grima, or egesegrima,
!' spectre.' Dietrich's meaning may be still further illustrated
by the OE. Rid. 56, with the meaning of ' cross.1
28. geara iu. So Moods 57; Creation n; Wand. 22; Gu.
ii ; Met. i1.
29-30. This suggests the Homeric account of the sceptre
(II. i. 234-7) : 'This staff that shall no more put forth leaf or
twig, seeing it hath for ever left its trunk among the hills,
neither shall it grow green again, because the axe hath stripped
it of leaves and bark.'
29. holtes on ende. Cf. jElfric, Horn. 2. 306 : ' And seo rod
is geraynd his mseran J^rowunge, halig }>urh hine, peahpe heo on
holte weoxe?
30. stefhe. Cf. the felling of a tree, Sal. 296.
Genaman. So 60. Note the inversion — the verb pre-
ceding the subject : (i) at the middle of the line (optatives, or
verbs with a negative, have a ?), 8, 9(?), 14, 21, 33, 42(9), 44,
47(?)> 51, 55> 59. 60. 61, 66, 69, 80, 124, 126, 129, 131, 144 (?) ;
22
MOTES
(2) at or near the beginning, 13, 17, 39, 42, 44, 46, 48, 63, 67,
75, no(?), ii7(?), 122.
feondas. So 33, 38.
31. This would seem to imply that the cross had frequently x
been used for executions.
32. Cf. Matt. 27. 32, 33.
beorg. So 50. Cf. El. 716-8 :
Stopon )>a to J>£re stowe stiShycgende
on J?a dune up Ce Dryhten a-r
ah an gen wses.
Dietrich notes a departure from the Biblical account, as in
36b-37a, the ' feorran ' of 57, 65b-66, and 6^b.
33. Frean mancynnes. So Harr. Hell. 33 ; Hy. 9".
34. elne mycle. So likewise 60, 123 ; cf. Chr. 1317, ' mid his
micle elne.'
wolde. Cf. Latin Hymns of the Anglo-Saxon Church (Surtees
Society, No. 23), in the hymn ' Auctor salutis unicua ' (p. 80) :
r5de willende )m astige
crucem volens ascenderas.
Add Bl. Horn., p. 85 : ' He let his lichoman on rode mid naegluin
gefaestan' ; ^Elfric, Lives of Saints 2. 150 : ' Eala fu wundorlice
rod, on j>sere Se Crist wolde }>rowian ' ; ^Elfric, On the New Test.
(Grein, Bibl. der Ags. Prosa 1. 13) : ' He }>rowode sylfwilles dea£,
on rode ahangen ' ; De Cons. Monach. 786-7 (Anglia 13. 420) :
' Gloriosas palinas tuas in crucis patibulo permisisti configere ' ;
Ib. 794 : ' Tuas manus mundas propter nos in cruce posuisti.'
Cynewulf has (Chr. 1491-2) : ' pe ic ser gestag willum minum,'
and the whole passage, 1379-1496, is to the same general effect.
Cf. Gregory, Past. Care, ed. Sweet, p. 32 : ' He nolde beon
cyning, and his agnurn willan he com to rode gealgan ; ¥a
weorSmynde cynehades he fleah, and ?set wlte ¥ses frace^lec-
estan dea'Ses he geceas.' So Bl. Horn. p. 33: 'Nis Jiaet nan
wundor Jreah se hea Cyning and se eca Drihten hine sylfne let
laedon on J>a hean dune, se hine sylfne forlet from deofles
leomum and from yflum mannum beon on rode ahangenne.'
23
THE DREAM OF THE ROOD
gestigan. See 40.
35 ff. Ebert (p. 86) remarks that this (cf. 42, 45) seems like
an answer to the lines in Venantius Fortunatus' Passion hymn,
' Pange, lingua ' :
Fleets ramos, arbor alta,
Tensa laxa viscera,
Et rigor lentescat ille
Quern dedit nativitas ;
Et superni membra Regis
Tende miti stipite.
35. io . . . ne derate. Cf. 42, 45, 47.
ofer Dryhtnes word. So Gen. 593. Cf. Wiilfing § 773.
Dryhtnes. The commonest designation for Christ in the
poem : 75, 101, 105, 136, 140, 144. Most of the terms are
employed only once each.
36. bugan. Cf. 42.
biflan. Cf. Chr. 826-7, ' Jjas miclan gemetu middangeardes
beofia'S'; Chr. 1143-4, ' s^° eorSe . . . beofode ' (at the cruci-
fixion) ; cf. Chr. 881.
38. faste stod. Cf. 43.
39. Ougyrede bine. Bouterwek, 'entkleidete sich1; Kemble,
'made ready'; Grein, ' riistete sich' (but is exact in the
Sprachschatz) ; Stephens, ' girded him ' ; Hammerich, ' gyorded
sig ' ; Pacius, ' ward entkleidet ' ; Hickey, ' made him dight ' ;
Morley, ' prepared himself '; Brown, 'prepared himself '; Brooke;
' armed himself for war.' Cf. Wiilfing § 377 (also 40, 78, 109),
who quotes Bede 540. 35, ' ungyrde hine 'Sa his sweorde ' ;
567. 24, 'he ... hine middangeardes ^ingum to ¥on ongyrede
and genacodade, J>set he . . .' One is reminded of Entellus, as
described by Virgil (Aen. 5. 421 ff.) : ' He spake, and from his
shoulders threw back his double cloak, and stripped the huge
joints of his limbs, his huge, long, and brawny arms, and took his
stand a giant in the midst of the arena ' ; cf. also Homer, Od.
22. 1-3, where Ulysses makes ready to attack the suitors : ' Then
Odysseus of many counsels stripped him of his rags, and leaped
on to the great threshold with his bow and quiver full of
24
NOTES
arrows ' ; add Od. 18. 66 ff. For the fact in the case of crucifixion,
cf. Matt. 27. 35 ; Mark 15. 24 ; Luke 23. 34 ; John 19. 23, 24 ;
Zockler, Das Kreuz Christi, pp. 106, 435 ; Fulda, Das Kreuz und
die Kreuzigung, 19. h ; 33 (322).
geong HeeleS. Didron says ( Christian Iconography 1 . 249) :
' The youthfulness of Christ, which is remarked on the mostf ,
ancient Christian monuments, is a predominating and very)
curious fact. On sculptured sarcophagi, in fresco paintings and
mosaics, Christ is represented as a young man of twenty years
of age, or a graceful youth of fifteen, without any beard, the
shape of his face round, the expression gentle, resplendent
with divine youth, just as Apollo was figured by the pagans,
and as angels are drawn by Christians.' Further he says
(i. 251-3): ' During the fi™t and second perioda of Christian.
art, that is to say, from the second or third centuries down to \
the tenth, until the reign of the first Capetian kings, Christ was/
most generally depicted youthful and beardless. . . . Hrosffiitha,
the celebrated nun (tenth century) of the convent of Gander-
sheini in Lower Saxony, still imagines Christ under the form
of a young man. In the comedy of Callimachus, where she
brings on the stage the raising of Drusiana by St. John the
Evangelist, that apostle, the friend of Christ, says to Andronicus,
the husband of Drusiana, " See, Andronicus ! the invisible God
appears to you under a visible form. He has assumed the
features of a beautiful young man." Lastly, towards the close
of the tenth century, under the Emperor Otho II, Christ is still
an adolescent, a beardless young man.'
Christ is thus described by Sf.__Jphn
__
century), as quoted in Didron i. 248: 'Lofty stature, thick
eyebrows, gentle eyes, well-formed nose, curling hair, figure
slightly bent, delicate complexion, black beard, face of the
colour of wheat, like that of his mother, long fingers, sonorous
voice, and persuasive language.' Didron adds: 'In the West,
a century later than the time of Damascenus, Christ was always
thus depicted.'
According to McClintock and Strong, Cyclopaedia 4. 884,
25
THE DREAM OF THE ROOD
*^ Epiphanius has a somewhat similar description. They say :
' The description given by Epiphanius (Monach. p. 29, ed. Dressel)
has lately been discovered by Tischendorf (Cod. Ven. cl. i, cod. 3,
no. 12,000), ... as follows : " But my Christ and God was
exceedingly beautiful in countenance. His stature was fully
developed, his height being six feet. He had auburn hair,
quite abundant, and flowing down mostly over his whole
person. His eyebrows were black, and not highly arched ; his
eyes brown and bright. He had a family likeness, in his fine
eyes, prominent nose, and good colour, to his ancestor David,
who is said to have had beautiful eyes and a ruddy complexion.
He wore his hair long, for a razor never touched it ; nor was it
cut by any person, except by his mother in his childhood. His
neck inclined forward a little, so that the posture of his body
was not too upright or stiff. His face was full, but not quite
so round as his mother's, tinged with sufficient colour to make
it handsome and natural; mild in expression, like the blandness
in the above description of his mother, whose features his own
strongly resembled." '
Among the Fathers who thought of Christ as goodly in
appearance are Jerome (Migne 22. 627 ; 26. 56) ; Ambrose,
Augustine, Chrysostom (Horn. 27 (al. 28) in Matt., p. 328 ; on
Ps. 44 (45), p. 162), Hilarius (Migne 10. 353, cf. 355), and
Theodoret. Cf. note on 73.
HasleS. Christ is addressed as Hcele&, though his identity
has not been revealed, in An. 484-94. Dr. Charles G. Osgood
reminds me of Milton's lines (The Passion, 13, 14) :
Most perfect Hero, tried in heaviest plight
Of labours huge and hard, too hard for human wight !
Add Carlyle, Heroes, The Hero as Divinity : ' The greatest
of all Heroes is One — whom we do not name here.' But
possibly Hcele^ only = ' Man.'
J?cet wses. Cf. 28, 74.
God ffllmihtig. Cf. 60, 98.
40. strang and stiSmod. So Sat. 248.
26
NOTES
gestah he on gealgan heanne. Cf. on gealgan stall, Hy.
lo88 ; Chr. 727, 1171, 1491 ; Sat. 549. Among the various inter-
pretations of Cant. 7. 8, ' ... I will climb up into the palm tree,
I will take hold of the branches thereof,' was that identifying
the palm tree with the cross. Thus Cassiodorus (?) (Migne 70.
1097) : ' Potest et per palmam arbor Dominicae crucis exprimi,
in quam Redemptor noster pro humani generis redemptione
ascendit, etin qua hostem humani generis superavit.' Similarly,
Gregory the Great (Migne 79. 536) : ' In palmam ergo ascendit
et fructus eius apprehendit, quia in cruce suspensus fructum
invenit, apprehendit, et nobis tribuit.' And so Alcuin (Migne
100. 660) : ' Apte quidem crux victrix palmae comparatur in
quam Christus ascendens apprehendit fructus eius.' Cf. Neale
and Littledale, Comm. on the Psalms i. 304. This seems to be
hinted at in George Herbert's The Sacrifice :
Man stole the fruit, but I must climb the tree,
The Tree of Life to all but only me.
Perhaps the mystical interpretation of Cant. 2. 8 may have
furnished an earlier hint. As I have elsewhere shown ( The Christ
of Cynewulf, note on 1. 720), Ambrose comments : ' In praesepi
erat, et fulgebat in caelo, descendit in lordanem, ascendit in
cntcetn, descendit in tumulum,' &c. (Migne 14. 513 ; cf. 15.
1269-70). He is followed by (Pseudo-) Cassiodorus (Migne
70. 1064), Gregory (Migne 26. 1219), and Alcuin (Migne 100.
646-7). Cf. further the line of Prudentius (Peristeph. 10. 641) :
Crux ilia nostra est, nog patibulum adscendimus.
Aldhelm has, ed. Giles, p. 236 (Epist. ad Acirciurri) :
Scandens in ligno Christus dedit arrham vitae.
In a charter of Edgar, bearing the date of 966 (Kemble, Cod.
Dipl. 2. 428), it is said of Christ: 'Ligno quippe perditum,
ligni scandens gabulum, genus redemit humanum.' Other in-
stances are : Ben. Off., p. 74 : ' Sexta hora pro nobis in crucem
ascendisti ' ; Bl. Horn., p. 97 : ' \>a. he on rode gealgan astag.' In
a hymn on St. Benedict, beginning
Christe, sanctorum decus atque virtus,
27
THE DREAM OF THE ROOD
(Latin Hymns of the Anglo-Saxon Church, Surtees Society,
No. 23), occur the glossed lines (p. 70):
Sip}>an astreccende fot on asindrodum
Dein extendens pedem in remotia
hSahnyssa he astah cwilmigan swijiorwillende
arduum scandit cruciare malens.
Cf. De Cons. Monach. 774 (Anglia 13. 419) : ' Adoro te in cruce
ascendentem.' See also the note on Heeled, 39. In classical
times the citations are scanty, but Plautus (Bacch. 2. 3. 127)
represents the slave Chrysalus as punning on his own name
under the form crucisalus ; and the phrase in crucem excurrere
occurs in Most. 2. i. 12. See also Zockler, p. 436.
T. Gregory Foster notes this hemistich (Judith, p. 35) as the
, only one in the poem transgressing the rule that in an expanded
line it is the second chief stress that bears the alliteration, and
considers the point significant on account of ' the discrepancy
from the usage in poems certainly Cynewulfian.'
on gealgan heanne. Cf. Jul. 482, on hean galgan ; Chr.
1446 ; Jul. 309 ; El. 424, on heanne beam.
gealgan. That it is conceived of as equivalent to rod is
evident from Jul. 481-3 :
Sume ic rode bifealh,
])aet hi hyra dreorge on hean galgan
lif aletan.
But this is a secondary sense, and hardly seems appropriate.
41. With 41* cf. 66a.
mancyn. Cf. 104.
42. Bifode ic. Bugge, Studien uber die Entstehung der nordi-
schen Goiter- und Heldensage, p. 523, compares the Vgluspa :
Skelfr Yggdrasils
askr standandi,
Ymr it aldna tre"
en jgtunn losnar.
Beorn. Of Christ nowhere except Chr. 449, 530.
ymbclypte. Sweet remarks: 'The Old English idea of
28
NOTES
Crucifixion was a very vague one, whence the inappropriate i /
use of ymbclyppan here, and the general confusion of crucifixion/
with the gallows (1. 10), and hanging.' This seems to me too
sweeping. To represent Christ as embracing the cross is
a poetic mode of emphasizing his voluntary sacrifice (cf. note
on wolde, 34). The whole subject of the cross in the Old\
English period has been investigated by Dr. William 0. Stevens, | ^
recently Fellow in English of Yale University (Yale Studies in \
English, No. 23, New York, 1904).
42-3. bugan to eortSan, feallan t5 foldan sceatum. Cf.
Beow. 2974-5, ' bugan sceolde, feoll on foldan ' ; similarly
Beow. 2918-9.
44. Rod was ic arsered. Cf. El. 886, 'rodarsered'; An.g67,
' rod wses arsered ' ; Chr. 1064-5, ' s®° hea rod, ryht arsered '
(cf. Gu. 150, 1286) ; Bl. Horn. 91. 23, ' And seo rod Ores
Drihtnes bi$ arsered on |>aet gewrixle J>ara tungla ' ; more re-
mote EL 129, ' he arseran het \&t halige treo.' In Bo'ddeker's
Altenglische Dichtungen (p. 211), a collection of Middle English
poems from MS. Harl. 2253, which, according to its editor, may
have been compiled about 1310, we see how remarkably the
alliterative formula persisted :
Heje vpon a doune,
)>er al folk hit se may,
a mile from )>e toune,
aboute (••• midday,
]>e rode is vp cvrered ;
his frendes aren afered,
ant clyngej) so ]>e clay ;
J>e rode stond in stone,
Marie stont hire one,
aut sei)> ' weylaway ' !
ahof io ricne Cyning. See Ruthwell Cross. The Brussels
Cross inscription is :
K5d is mm nama ; g6o ic ricne Cyning
baor byfigende, blOde
Cf. 42, 48.
29
THE DREAM OF THE ROOD
ahof. Cf. El. 861.
45. hoofona Hlaford. Cf. 64, 91.
hyldan. Here transitive ; see Ruthwell Cross.
ne dorste. Cf. El. 735 ; Chr. 1168.
46-7a. Ps. 22. 16. Cf. Chr. 1107-9:
ond jM openan dolg
on hyra Dryhtne greseoiJ dreorigfertSe,
swa him mid nceglum Jturhdrifan . . .
Also An. 1399 : rfo^bennum fiurhdrifen. Dietrich characterizes
dolg (as against ben, sdr, and wwnrf ) and burhdrifan as peculiarly
Cynewulfian ; but the former occurs Rid. 618, 57* (dolgian, Rid.
54,60"; dolhwund, Jud. 107 ; Beow. 817, besides Andreas) ; and
the latter SfaJ. 163.
47. inwidhlemmas. Bouterwek translates by 'Schlage(?)
der Bosheit,' Kemble by 'sounds of woe.'
47b. Cf. Chr. 1466, ' se ¥e neengum scod.1 Ncenigum is here
forbidden by the alliteration.
48. Bysmerodon hie unc. Matt. 27. 39 if. Cf. An. 962-3 :
' me bysmredon . . . weras wansEelige.'
butu estgaedere. So Jul. 292.
mid blode bestemed. Cf. 22; Ruthwell Cross; Brussels
Cross ; Chr. 1085 ; Beow. 486 ; Exod. 448, blode listemed ; An.
1475, dreore bestemed ; An. 1239, sivate bestemed.
49a. Guman. So Hel. 5743: 'thes gumen grimman dod,'
and elsewhere, but not in OE. poetry. Cf. John 19. 5 ;
Mark 15. 39 ; i Tim. 2. 5.
sidan. John 19. 34. Cf. Chr. mi, 1448, 1458.
49b. Similar are El. 480; Chr. 1452-3; Jul. 310; An. 1327;
more remote An. 187, 1416; Gu. 1277; Men. 171. From Matt.
27. 50 ; Mark 15. 37, 39 ; Luke 23. 46 ; John 19. 30.
50-1 a. Cf. 79-80*, 125-6*. See also Fin. 25, 'fela ic weana
gebad, heardra hilda.'
wra/5ra wyrda. Cf. Chr. 8o4a, wrafira wlta.
weruda God. God of hosts. So Chr. 407, 631.
30
NOTES
52. f>enian. Cf. ' Crist waes on rode a|>ened,' Ben. Off., p. 73.
Kemble tr. 'serve.' For the construction see note on 5. For
the fact cf. Fulda, Das Kreuz und die Kreuzigung 25 (262).
pfBtro. Matt. 27. 45. Cf. Chr. 1132.
53. Note the variation on 17.
mid wolcnum. Cf. Chr. 527 ; An. 1048.
54. ecirne sciman. Appositive with hrcew, like fceger feorg-
bold, 73. Cf. Gen. 137, sctrum sciman ; for the general effect,
Chr. 1088, scire scinaff. Even the Saviour's corpse is conceived
as a source of light.
forcSeode. Keinble and Grein treat this as a transitive
verb of which sciman is the object. Kemble translates 'in-
vaded ' ; Grein renders in the Sprachschatz by ' opprimere,
subigere,' adducing OHG. farduhian, and in the Dichtungen by
' unterdriickt ' (' es hatte der Schatten unterdriickt den Schein
der Sonne '). Dietrich renders by supprimere, and Stephens by
' fell heavy.'
55*. So Gu. 1254 ; cf. Beow. 1374.
wolcnum. Cf. 53.
55b-6a. Cf. Chr. 1127-30: ' Gesegun )^a dumban gesceaft
. . . gefelan Frean j>rowinga ; ond mid cearum cwKdun.' Add
Chr. 1182, and 1174-5:
Da wearS beam monig blodgum tearum
birunnen under rindum rSade ond Jricce.
The direct source of the Christ passage and this (besides
Hdiand 5674) is no doubt Gregory's Horn, in Evang. i. 10,
a more ultimate one being Leo the Great's Serm. VI. de Pass.
Dom., cap. 4, and other passages by the same author. See
my notes on Chr. iiz^-gB, 1130. These fathers may have
derived suggestions from the Apocryphal 2 Esdras (4 Esdras)
5. 5 ' Et de ligno sanguis stillabit,' and from the Gospel of
Nicoderaus (Tischendorf 2, p. 309) : ' In tua morte ornnis contre-
muit creatura' (cf. my notes on Chr. 1130 ; 1174-6*). Perhaps
the Latin fathers may have recalled Ovid's verses on the death
of Orpheus (Met. n. 41-9), especially since Orpheus was eome-
31
THE DREAM OF THE ROOD
times compared with Christ in the early Christian centuries (so
by Justin Martyr, fl. A.D. 140, and by Clement of Alexandria,
Conortatio ad Graecos, cap. i) ; see Piper, Mythologie und
Symbolik der christlichen Kunst i. I. 121 ff. ; Kraus, Real-
Encyclopadie der christlichen Alterthumer, art. C -pheus ; and
the authorities cited by them. Orpheus is sometimes found
depicted in English mosaics of the same general epoch, accord-
ing to Kraus. The Ovidian lines are :
Perque os, pro luppiter 1 illud
Auditum saxis intellectumque ferarum
Sensibus in ventos anima exhalata recessit.
Te maeatae volucres, Orpheu, te turba ferarum,
Te rigid! silices, te carmina saepe secutae
Fleverunt silvae, positis te frondibus arbor
Tonsa comam luxit ; lacrimis quoque flumina dicunt
Increvisse suis, obstrusaque carbasa pullo
Naides et Dryades passosque habuere capillos.
Cf. Milton's ' Whom universal nature did lament ' (Lye. 60).
Ovid very likely obtained the hint from Bion's Lament for Adonis
31 ff. : ' Woe, woe for Cypris the mountains all are saying, and
the oak trees answer woe for Adonis. And the rivers bewail the
sorrows of Aphrodite, and the wells are weeping Adonis on the
mountains. The flowers flush red for anguish.' Bion is the
model for Moschus, Lament for Bion 1-5 : ' Wail, let me hear you
wail, ye woodland glades, and thou Dorian water ; and weep,
ye rivers, for Bion, the well-beloved ! Now all ye green things
mourn, and now ye groves lament him, ye flowers now in sad
clusters breathe yourselves away. Now redden ye roses in your
sorrow,' &c.
For the form of 55b cf. Chr. 930*, ' Dyne^ deop gesceaffc.'
Cyninges fyil. Cf. Beow. 2912, fyll cyninges.
56b. Cf., though somewhat remote, Chr. ni4b: ' |>a he on
rode wses.'
57. HwaeSere baer. Cf. 70, 75.
fuse. Eager ones. Joseph and Nicodemus, we may sup-
pose ; cf. John 19. 38, 39. Adj. used as noun.
32
NOTES
feorran cwoman. Cf. An. 24 ; El. 1212-3.
58". Cf. 24-5.
59. }>am Becgum t5 handa. Cf. Beow. 1983, heel urn to
handa ; more remote, Gen. 1463.
60. elne mycle. Bouterwek, 'mit grosser Anstrengung
(Kraft)'; Kemble, 'with great power.'
celmihtigne Qod. Cf. 93, 98, 106, 156.
6r. ahSfon. In this sense only El. 482, ' J>a sr?v<5an wses of
rode ahcefen rodera Wealdend.' See the description in Hel.
57I5-34» especially 5732-4.
wite. Note the figure, wite = rod ; so 87.
hilderincas. Cf. 72. Only otherwise in four war-poems.
62. Bouterwek tr. 62*, ' in den Stein getrieben.'
bedrifenne. In this sense only An. 1496.
Btreelum. Cf. Sat. 509-11 :
Ic Sow J ingade
J>a m6 on b6ame beornas sticedon
gdrum on galgum.
Can there be a distant allusion to Gen. 49. 24 ; Ps. 64. 3, 4, &c. ?
If not, the nails must be meant, and this is most likely.
63. Aledon. Compare and contrast Beow. 34, 3141.
limwerigne. A most expressive word, apparently coined
for this place.
heafdum. The plural as in Alfred, Cura Past. 100. 17 :
' 'Bone stan }>e set his heafdum Iseg.' See Sweet's note on p. 480
of his edition, and Wulfing § 133. 2. II.
64. reste. Cf. 69.
65*. Cf. 69*, and lirmverigne, 63.
metSe. Cf. Gu. 1083.
gewinne. Cf. cergewin, 19.
6sb. Cf. 6?b.
moldern. The word occurs An. 803 ; Ph. 564, like mold-
grcef, Jul. 690 ; Ph. 524.
66a. banena. The MS. -an is LWS. ; cf. Gram.3 276, n. 4.
COOK 33 D
THE DREAM OF THE ROOD
Sweet says (A. S. Reader) : ' This word is probably a mistake
for some other, possibly beorg (cp. 1. 32), and the original
reading may have been on beorges sldan. If the reading
banan be retained, in the sense of "murderer," it can only
be understood to refer to the cross, although this is very
improbable.'
66b. The author is apparently thinking of a marble sarco-
phagus. Jillfric writes (Horn. 2. 262) : ' pa stod on ^gere stowe
sum st&nen fa-uh, on %ere nsefre ne laeg nan eorSlic mann,' and
again (i. 216) : ' Joseph and Nichodemus . . . bebyrigdon his lie
:er sefene on riiwere (fryh ' ; he, too, must therefore have con-
ceived of the tomb as a stone coffin.
of. Sweet says : ' Perhaps rather on = " in." '
67. sigora Wealdend. So Gen. 126, 1112; Exod. 16 ; Sat.
218 ; El. 732.
sorhleotS galan. Cf. Beow. 2460; sorhleod gceled. One
might conceive of their praise as sung, with the exception of
the last word, in the terms applied by his companions to
Beowulf, as they circled round his barrow :
Cwaedon J>aet h6 ware wyruldcyniiiga,
manna mildust ond monCwalrust,
ISodum liOost [ond lofgeornost].
Cf. Hel. 5741-2 : ' Griotandi satun idisi armscapana,' followed
by (5744) 'uuopiandi uuib.'
68. on Jjft »fentide. Cf. Gen. 2124; Gu. 1188; Met. 8", on
cefentid. The note of time is from Matt. 27. 57, &c.
69. me$e. Artistic change of meaning from 65; here,
' sorrowful.'
fram. Cf. with of, 133, 138 (?).
m»te weorode. Alone ; so 124, where the sense is clearly
given by the equation with ana. An interesting parallel is
tfaios, in Sophocles, Oed. Tyr. 750 e^wps i #aidy, ' went he in
small force ' (Jebb), where Liddell and Scott interpret /3ator as
' alone.' This is borne out by Suidas, s. v. j3<uai (ed. Bekker,
34
NOTES
p. 210) : f3ai(>s »8tW iivrl ffs, the Sophoclean line being quoted
in substantiation. Ebert notes as characteristic that the phrase
is not found elsewhere, while Trautmann (Kyneivulf, p. 40)
compares weorod unm&te, An. 1221, 1684.
70. we. This, and the MS of 73, 75, afford the only suggestion
of the crosses of the two thieves.
geotende. This is the only reading supported by another
part of the poem. The cross streamed with blood at the cruci-
fixion : so i9b-2Oa, confirmed by 22''-3a ; but there is no
intimation of its wailing.
gode. Rode is of course nonsense here, and there is no
reason to doubt the MS. reading. On the other hand, the
retention of yode makes reotende impossible.
71. syfrSan. Evidently a conjunction, not an adverb. The
course of the thought .seems to be (67-73) : "The disciples sang
a dirge at eventide, just before leaving the tomb, when Christ
was to lie alone. But we (the crosses) remained dripping with
blood long after the dirge was sung. Meantime the corpse
grew chill in death.' If sifrfran be regarded as an adverb we
must understand : ' We stood dripping with blood a long while
before the dirge was sung.' But surely, whatever be the measure
of time employed, the ' good while ' would follow the dirge
rather than precede it.
stefh. Kluge's emendation suits the context (cf. 67b) ; it
occurs elsewhere in alliteration with sta&ole, Dan. 561 : ' stille
on sta^ole, sw5 seo stefn gecwae'S ' (and see Dan. 582) ; it makes
the meaning of hilderinca clear (cf. 61) ; and it is supported by
such Biblical passages as Exod. 2. 23 ; i Sam. 5. 12 ; Jer. 14. 2 ;
add i Mace. 5. 31.
72. Hr«ew colode. Cf. Gu. 1258, lie colode ; El. 883, leomu
colodon ; Ph. 228, hra bid dcolad ; Souls 125, lie dcolod ; so the
OS. Heliand (5702) : is lithi colodun.
73. feeger feorgbold. Cf. 54, same sciman, and Neale and
Littledale, Comm. on thePsahns, 2. 98-100: '" Thy beauty, 0 King
35 D2
THE DREAM OF THE ROOD
Messiah," exclaims the Chaldee paraphrast [of Pa. 45. 3], "is
greater than that of the sons of men."
Salve lesu, Candor lucis,
Thronum tenens summi ducis !
Qui es passua poenas crucis,
Nobis sis propitius !
Salve lesu, Fons amoris !
Qui es totus, intus, foris,
Plenus maximi decoris
Et superni luminis.
' ... If with one voice, and basing their opinion on Isaiah's
"He hath no form or comeliness, and when we shall see Him,
there is no beauty that we should desire Him," S. Cyril of
Alexandria, S. Athanasius, S. Basil, Hesychius, Euthymius,
S. Gregory Nazianzen, followed by Remigius and Arnobius, deny
that the Incarnate Word possessed human beauty, let us rather
follow the more pious opinion of all the great teachers of the
West, that of this Son of David also is that saying true, " in all
Israel there was none so much to be praised for his beauty ;
from the sole of His feet even to the crown of His head there
was no blemish in Him " [2 Sam. 14. 25]. It is the general
tradition of the Church ; it is the almost universal representa-
tion of the schools of Christian art. S. Bernard, in many and
many a passage of ravishing beauty, tells us of the exquisite
glory of our Lord's humanity. S. Anselm expressly blames
a vision of S. Bridget for denying it. S. Isidore breaks forth
with a rapture of admiration at the earthly glory of the Incar-
nate Word ; and S. Thomas seems almost to claim such a belief
as part of the Catholic faith. I pass over the most uncertain
authority of the epistle to Abgarus, and that of Lentulus. But
yet I firmly believe that a certain type of the face of our
blessed Lord would not have been so universally received in
Eastern and early Western art, unless it had possessed some
real foundation. Every one must be acquainted with the general
idea of that countenance as given in Byzantine icons, and
crystallized, if we may so speak, in the West under the name of
36
XOTES
the Dieu d* Amiens' See Schnaase, Gesch. der Bihl. Kiinxte
3- i?2.
Yet our author, like Molanus (Migne, Theol. Curs. Compl.
27. 301), cannot believe that Christ was beautiful upon the cross.
He adds : 'But even towards the end of that weary thirty -three
years, His face was so marred more than any man's, that the
Jews asked, " Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast Thou
seen Abraham?'' And then, when it had been smitten by the
soldiers, when that Divine head had been crowned with thorns,
when it was brought into the dust of death, then was not that
prophecy of Isaiah fulfilled, " And when we shall see Him, there
is no beauty that we should desire Him " ? ' Cf. note on 39.
With feorgbold Dietrich compares sawelhus, Gu. 1003,
1115; hus, Chr. 1481 (see my notes on 14, and 820). Add El.
881, 1237. These terms, as well as feorhhus (By. 296), gcesthof
(Chr. 820), and selegescot (Chr. 1480), no doubt all go back to
2 Cor. 5. i, rendered by Wserferth (Dialoge Gregors, p. 296) :
. . . ' )>is eor¥lice hus ures lichaman.' Other Biblical parallels
are 2 Pet. i. 13, 14 ; Isa. 38. 12 ; Wisd. 9. 15 ; Job 4. 19 ; and
perhaps John i. 14. The Greeks, especially the Pythagoreans
and Platonists, employed the same figure, designating the body
as a tabernacle, a-Kfjvos. References may be found under the
word in Passow, Handworterbuch; Aeschinis Socratici Dialogi
Tres, ed. Fischer (Leipzig, 1786), Index ; and under 2 Cor. 5 i
in Wetstein, Novutn Testamentum Graece (Amsterdam, 1752) ;
Kypke, Observations Sacrae (1755) ; Meyer, Handbook. Among
those who employ the term are Plato (according to Clement of
Alexandria, p. 703 ; cf. the Pseudo-Platonic Axiochus 365),
Democritus, the Locrian Timaeus, £c. Similarly, among the
Romans, Cicero employed domicilium (Nat. Deor. i. 27. 76 ; Tusc.
i. 24. 58), cf. Velleius Paterculus 2. 69. 4; Ovid thus uses domus
(Met. 15. 159 ; cf. sedes, n. 788). English literature has always
been familiar with the conception. Thus Ancren Riwle, p. 388
(eordene castle) ; Sidney, Defense of Poesy, my ed. I27 (clayey
lodging) ; Spenser, F. Q. 2. 9. 20 ff. (castle) ; allegory suggested
by Plato, Timaeus 69, 70 ; Daniel, Hist. Civil War 4. 84 (ic
37
THE DREAM OF THE ROOD
Shakespeare, Temp. I. 2. 458 ; King John 4. 2. 210 ; Ant. 5. 2. 51
(house); Milton, Passion 17; P. R. 4. 599 (fleshly tabernacle);
Hymn Nat. 14 (darksome house of mortal day) ; H Pens. 92 (man-
sion in this fleshly nook) ; cf. In Ob. Pr. El. 37 (moles carnea, cf.
career, 46); Bishop Hall, Rem. Works (1660) 205 (clay cottage) ;
Weldon, Court Jas. I. (1651) 123 (earthen cottage) ; Waller,
On the Divine Poems (dark cottage ; cf. Fuller, Life of Monica) ;
Reft, on Lord's Prayer (tenement of clay) ; Vaughan, Burial
(house); Bunyan, Holy War, beginning (walls, of town!;
Carew, Works (1824) 66 (clayey tenement); Dryden, Abs.
and Achit. I. 158 (tenement of clay) ; Cowper, Task 2. 458
(house of clay, hovel) ; Watts, Hymns, ' Happy the Heart ' (dark
abode) ; Tennyson, The Deserted House ; St. Agnes' Eve 19
(earthly house) ; Hawthorne, Septimius Felton (1883) 341 (fleshy
tabernacle). Sometimes the terms denote the head, or skull,
not the whole body. Thus Waller, Of Tea (palace) ; Byron,
Childe Harold, 2. 5, 6 (temple, hall, dome, palace, recess, tower,
tenement) ; the anonymous To a Skeleton, printed, for example,
in Bryant's Library of Poetry and Song (cell, canopy, cavern).
More remote are Young, Night Thoughts i. 128 (gross impedi-
ment of clay) ; Tennyson, In Mem. 120. 5 (cunning casts in clay).
The notion of prison, though allied, is not to be identified
with the foregoing. It is first recorded in Plato (Crati/lus 400 ;
Phaedo 82, 114, cf.62); then in Stobaeus, Florileg. 116; Philo, De
Migr. Abr. 2 (cf. Quod Deus immut. 32 ; Leg. Alleg. I. 33) ; Clem.
Alex., Strom. 3. 434 -, Theodoretus Gr., Aff. Cur., p. 821, ed.
Schultz; cf. Philolaus in Boeckh, p. 151; Athenaeus 4. 157.
In Latin literature see Virgil, Aen. 6. 734; Cicero, De Sen. 21.
77 ; Rep. 6. 14 (=Somn. Scip. 3) ; Tusc. i. 30; Veil. 2. 27. 3;
Lucan 5. 119 ; 6. 721 ; Seneca, Ad Hehiam n (Corpusculum
hoc, custodia et vinculum animi) ; Lactantius, Inst. 3. 18 ; 6. 17 ;
Macrobius in Somn. Scip. 13 ; Valerius Maximus 2. 6; Augustine,
Civ. Dei 14. 3 ; Boeth. Cons. Phil. 2. pr. 7 (cf. Alfred's version,
ed. Sedgefield, 45. 28) ; Bede, H. E. 4. 3 ; Opp. 8. 429. In
English literature see, for example, Alfred's version of Augus-
tine's SoliloQiiies 59. 35, 60 ; 67. 2 (cf. 63. 21 ; 66. 19) ; Chaucer,
38
NOTES
K. T. 2203 ; Shakespeare, 3 Hen. VI. 2. i. 74 ; T. And. 3. 2. 10
(cf. King John 3. 4. 19) ; Massinger, Renegado 3. 2 (fleshy
prison); Shelley, Cencj i. i. 115; cf. Browning, Paracelsus,
Part I (Paracelsus' penultimate speech).
74h. Cf. Gen. 1399, *|;set is maere wyrd' ; Rid. 48*, 'me feet
};uhte wraetlic wyrd.'
75. Eedealf. The verb only El. 1081 (of the nails), deope
bedolfen.
76. [of foldan *h6fon]. Cf. El. 844-5 (of the rediscovered
cross), ' ahof of foldgrsefe.'
77. gyredon. Cf. 16, 23.
golde. Cf. 5, 16.
golde and seolfre. Cf. El. 1023-7 :
IlCn j)fi rode lioht
jroMe beweorcean and gimcynnum,
mid }>am seOelestum corcnanstunum
beseltan searocroeftum, and )>u in seolfren fjet
locum belucan.
Cf. Rid. 56s-8 :
wrStlic wudutrSow, and wunden gold,
sine searobunden, and seolfres d;rl,
and r5de tacn.
Add ^Ifric, Zr»w« of Saints 2. 144 : ' mid seolfre bewunden.'
78. So El. 511 ; cf. Rood 95 ; An. 812.
79. bealuwa. The MS. reading is objectionable on more
than one account. Bealuwara cannot be equated with sarra
sorga, while bealuwa evidently can ; cf. Jud. 181-2, ' maest
morSra gefremede, sarra sorga' ; Jul. 311-3, 'fela . . . bealwa
gefremede, sweartra synna.' A metrical parallel is Ps. 65™,
1 and us bealuwa fela on bsece stande^.' And us bealuwa fela=
x xv^x I Xv^x ; })<xt ic bealuica weorc—* x^,x | x-l; and
both are in the first hemistich. The objections to Grein's
bealuwra are (i) that the form is not found in the poetry;
(2) that if the adjective is thus used as a noun, it must mean
39
THE DREAM OF THE ROOD
'evil one' (cf. Sat. 481), which cannot be equated with sorg, while
the noun bealu admits this readily, as in Sal. 372-3 :
Oft h6o to bealwe beam afedeS
selfre to sorge.
weorc. Grein's suggested weorn is unnecessary because
(1) weorc is found with such genitives as gewinnes, wean;
(2) because it occurs as the object of such verbs as dolian,
firowian ; cf. Beow. 1721, ' he J>ses gewinnes weorc j>rowade ' ;
Rid. 71", 'ic wean . . . weorc J>rowade.'
8oa. So Jud. 182.
8ob. Cf. An. 1167, 'nu is ssel cumen.'
IB nu. Cf. I26b.
nu. Emphatic, as in 84 ; contrast with iu, 87.
81. wide and. side. So Gen. 10 ; Chr. 394 ; An. 1639 ; Gu.
854 ; Ps. 56*1 ". Pacius notes this as the only instance of rime
in the poem.
82. So 12.
83*. Cf. i22a. For the thought see Tatwine's riddle.
84. J>rowode. Cf. 98, 145.
86. bitS. There is perhaps an implication of the future, as
compared with the sense of is ; see Glossary.
87 ff. Cf. Chrysostom, Contra ludaeos et Gentiles g : ' Attamen
maledictum illud, exsecrabile, extremi supplicium symbolum
mine desiderabile amabileque factum est, . . . et quod omnes
olim exhorrescebant, eius nunc figura ita certatim exquiritur
ab omnibus, ut ubique reperiatur apud principes et subditos,
apud mulieres et viros, apud virgines et nuptas, apud servos et
liberos,' &c. See also Tatwine's riddle.
87. Iu. Cf. geara iu, 18.
wita heardost. Cf. 61, and An. 1472, heardra mta.
88a. leodum laftost. Cf. El. 977-8, where the cross was
' ludeum . . . wyrda laSost.1
88b-9a. Dietrich compares Rid. 63*-* :
And me weg sylfa
ryhtne geryme.
40
NOTES
Add Gu. 70-1, ' se J>e lifes weg gSstum gearwa'S ' ; Wulfetan
18. ii : ' And Sairto gerymed haef^ us eallum rihtne weg ' (also
18. 17, 18).
lifes weg. See Acts 2. 28 ; Ps. 16. 1 1 ; Matt. 7. 14. So
Ap. 31 ; An. 170.
90. wuldres Ealdor. Cf. unddrea Cyning, 133.
91. ofer. Cf., for example, Chr. 107, 1382. See Wulfing
§ 772-
holtwudu. So Beow. 1369; Ph. 171; cf. 29. Fortunatus'
hymn, ' Pange, lingua, gloriosi," has:
Crux fidelis inter omnes
Arbor una nobilis ;
Nulla silva talem profert
Fronde, flore, germine.
The Antiphon at the Benedictus for the Lauds of the Invention
of the Cross is : ' Super omnia ligna cedrorum tu sola excelsior,
in qua vita mundi pependit, in qua Christus triumphavit,' &c.
For the imagery cf. Judges 9. 8ff. ; Ezek. 31. 36°.; Dan. 4. loff.
heofonrlces "Weard. This first occurs in Caedmon's Hymn.
93a. selmihtig God. Cf. 106, 156, besides 153, and note on 39.
for. Grein assumes that this means 'above'; but cf. 112,
and note that ofer, 1. 94, signifies ' above.'
93b. for ealle men. Transferred by the Ruthwell Cross poet
to a place corresponding to line 41.
94. Cf. Luke i. 42, and Chr. 71 8., 275 ff.
94b. So Jul. 432.
95-6. io \>e hftte . . . \>&t. Cf. Sat. 694-5.
95b. So 78b.
96. gesyhtSe. Cf. 14.
97. wuldres beam. So El. 217 ; cf. wuldres wynbeam, El. 844.
98-9. Cf. 14, 145-6 ; Men. 85-6.
98. Cf. Ben. Off., p. 72: '\>e he si&>an on )>rowode.'
se tSe. Nominative instead of dative ; cf. Rid. 4"*.
41
THE DREAM OF THE ROOD
on j^rowode. So Chr. 1154.
100. ealdgewyrhtum. In another sense Beow. 2657; cf.
cergewyrht in this sense, El. 1301 ; Chr. 1241 ; Jul. 702 ; Gu. 960,
1052.
ioia. Cf. 113-4.
102. mannum t5 helpe. Cf. Chr. 427, 1173; El. 679, 1012 ;
for the form see 153.
103*. Cf. Chr. 737.
i03b-9. Cf. Chr. 523-7.
104. Cf. An. 104, ' on middangeard mancynn secan ' ; also
Chr. 523-4, 946-7.
106. and his englaa mid. For the form cf. An. 237 ; Dan.
354 ; Chr. 1521, &c.
107. wile deman. Cf. Chr. 803 ; Sat. 109. 623.
se ah domea geweald. Cf. Gifts of Men 27 ; Chr. 228 ;
El. 726 ; "Wulfstan 22. 2, 14 ; also Sat. 118.
108-9. Cf. Chr. 1233*.
i09b. Cf. 138".
no. Echoed by 117.
We mseg Ip&r ffinig. Cf. Chr. 1628 ; 999, 1316.
H2ff. Cf. Chr. I376bff., 1474-5.
113. for Dryhtnes naman. For . . . naman imitates the
Lat. propter nomen (pro nomine), which translates the Greek
8ia TO ovopa, fvtutv TOV oi/J/iaro? (vrrip TOV ovd/iaTOs), as in Matt.
10. 22 ; 19. 29 ; 24. 9 ; Mark 13. 13 ; Luke 21. 12, 17 ; John
15. 21 ; Acts 9. 16 ; I John 2. 12 ; 3 John 7 ; Rev. 2. 3 ; so in
the 0. T. : Pa. 23. 3, &c.
113-4. deatfos . . . biterea. Cf. Dan. 223; Chr. 1474-5;
Eccles. 7. 26.
114. Cf. Heb. 2. 9 ; also Matt. 16. 28 ; John 8. 52.
115. f§a. An adverb, according to Grein, who adduces
Ps. I3418.
117-8. For the general form cf. Chr. 779-81 ; for the mean-
ing see El. 1229 ff.
42
NOTES
117. An echo of no.
anforht. This may be assumed on the analogy of such
words as anstmd, since unforht makes nonsense.
118. Cf. Gu. 770, 'bera^ in breostum beorhtne geleafan';
also Chr. 1072, ' bera$ breosta hord.'
120. of eortSwege. Cf. El. 736, ' of eor#wegum up geferan.'
121. Cf. Doomsday (Ex.) 89b, ' se )>e him wile lifgan mid
Gode.'
mid. Thus used in 134, 143.
I22a. Cf. 83*.
I22b. So Chr. 280 ; Gu. 580 ; Hy. 4"*.
123. elne mycle. So 34, 60; cf. Chr. 1317; Bouterwek,
' mit freudigem Muthe ' ; Kemble, ' with much power.'
ana. For the conjunction with mate we rede cf. Chaucer,
Knight's Tale 1921, 'alone, withouten any companye ' ; some-
what similar are Shakespeare, Hen. V. 4. 3. 74 ; a Hen. VI. i . 2.
69; T. of A. 5. i. no; A. Y. L. 2. i. 49.
125. af^aed on forSwege. Cf. fus on for&weg, Exod. 129 ;
Men. 218 ; Gu. 773, 918 ; fits fordweges, Exod. 248 ; Bid. 31" ;
tifysed onftrfaff, Gu. 911.
126. langunghwlla. Bouterwek, ' (meine) Sehnsucht der
Stunden(?)'; Kemble, 'of longing times'; Grein, ' Sehnsuchts-
stunden ' ; Pacius (i25b-6a), ' Sehnsucht fiillte die sorgende
Seele ' ; Morley, ' (many) an hour of longing ' ; Brooke2, ' long
and weary days.'
nu. Contrasted with /a, 122.
lifes hyht. So Chr. 585 ; Gu. 631.
129. me is willa. Cf. Dan. 581, 'is me swa feah willa.'
For the general thought, cf. Hy. 489-7a, and note the phraseology
which suggests the Rood :
HuxuSre ic mS ealles ]>8B3 eUen wylle
habban and hlyhhan and mS hyhtan t6,
fraetwian mec on forSweg, and fundian
sylf to J>am e!5e J>e ic asettan sceal.
43
THE DREAM OF THE ROOD
Again (87-90) :
For)>on ic afysed eom
earm of mlnum 681e. Ne maeg >8es anhoga
IfioSwynna leas leng drohtian,
winelSas wrsecca.
Again (97-8) :
Ymb sio sprece,
longunge fas.
Again (100-1) :
Nah ic felia goldes
ne huru Caes frSondes.
133. sohton him wuldres Cyning. Cf. G'u. 1054-5, ')>aet
ic wuldres God sece, Swegelcyning.'
134. Heahfeedere. Only here in this sense.
135. wunia}? on wuldre. Cf. 143, 155.
ic wene me. So Chr. 789 ; cf. Sat. 50 ; Ps> 55".
137. Cf. 4 ; for the form see 145.
138. Cf. 109; Gen. 1211, 'of J>yssum laman life feran'; Hy.
3", ' ser ic of }>ysuin Isenan life gehweorfe.'
i39a. Cf. i4ift.
T39b- I7®17 *s- ^0 140, 141. With the repetitions, cf. Chr.
1649-52 :
DSr is engla song, Sadigra blis ;
)>S[r] is sSo dyre Dryhtnes ouslen
eallum )>am gesaelgum sunnan leohtra ;
Caer is leofra lufu.
Also An. 871, ' }>8er waes singal song ' ; Gu. 1055, ' l'*r is sib
and blis, domfaestra dream.' For the ultimate sources in
Augustine, Gregory, and Caesarius of Aries, and the reproduc-
tions in the homilies, see my note, Chr. 1649-64.
blis. So 141 ; similar repetitions in Chr. 1649, ^57 ; cf.
1646.
141. geseted to symle. Rev. 19. 9 ; Luke 14. 15. Yortosymle,
cf. Beoio. 484, 2104 ; Dan. 701 ; Jud. 15.
143. wunian on wuldre. So Chr. 347 ; Dan. 367.
44
NOTES
well. Cf. 129.
h&lgum. Cf. 154.
145-6. Cf. 98-9.
145. An echo of 137.
147. llf forgeaf. Chr. 776 ; Gen. 2843.
148. Hiht wees ffeniwad. The words and the theme are
those of Chr. 529-30 :
Hyht wees genlwad,
blis in burgum, Jmrh JJSBS Beornes cyme.
At the approaching death of Guthlac (Gu. 926-7),
Hyht wses genlwad,
blis in brSostum.
149. midbledum and mid blisse. Cf. Chr. 1256, 1346, 1657.
J?ftm f>e »r. Cf. Chr. 799, 916, 1260; for cer see 114, 118,
137-
bryne }>olodan. Cf. Gu. 545, Inme firowian. The refer-
ence is to the spirits in prison who were released by tht;
Harrowing of Hell. This theme is continued to the end of the
poem. Elsewhere it is found in the poetry : Chr. 250°., 145 ft'.,
558 if, 730 ff., 1159 ff. ; EI. 181, 295-7 (?), 905-13 ; £«• i°74 ff- ;
Ph. 417-23 ; Rid. 56« ; Pa. 58 ff. ; Sat. 374~557 (?) ! Creed 30 ff. ;
besides the Harrowing of Hell. In the prose see Martyr., p. 50;
Wulfstan, pp. 22, 145; Bl. Horn., pp. 85-9; JElf. Horn. i. 28,
216, 480 ; 2. 6 ; Ben. Off., ed. Feiler, pp. 56-7, 64 ; &c. Cf.
the notes in my edition of the Christ.
150-2. Cf. Chr. 577-81 :
Wile in t5 Sow ealles Waldend,
Oyning on ceastre, corSre ne lytle,
fyrnweorca Fruma, folc gelwdan
in drSama dream, Se h6 on dfioflum gen5m
J>urh his sylfes sygor.
150. Se Sunu. Nowhere else in the poetry thus absolutely
(see 83). Cf. John 8. 36 ; Ps. 2. 12.
on J>am siSfate. So Exod. 521 ; An. 1664 (-faete) ; Rid.
447 (-fete).
45
THE DREAM OF THE ROOD
151. mid. Cf. Hittle, p. 25.
meenigeo. Or perhaps menigeo; cf. 112. The only other
instance in the poetry of MS. man- in this word is.Hy. io8.
152. gasta weorode. Contrast with 69.
153. to blisse. So An. 588 ; Men. 62 ; cf. my note on Chr.
28, and Rood 102.
154*. Cf. I49b.
i55a. wunedon on wuldre. Cf. 143.
i55b-6. There is a suggestion here of Chr. 436.
156. The theme of these closing lines is of course the joy in
heaven at the return of Christ with the Old Testament saints
whom he had saved from Limbo, and is therefore at once
suggestive of the triumph of Easter Day, and of the eternal
rejoicing in heaven. Death is swallowed up in victory, the
pains of the ignominious cross are forgotten, and the vision
of the glorious rood is justified.
46
APPENDIX
1843. KEMBLE.
Lo ! I the costliest of dreams will relate, which met me in
the middle of the night, after the race of speakers dwelt in
rest. Methought that I beheld a wondrous tree led through
the lift, with light surrounded, brightest of trees: all that
beacon was poured over with gold; gems stood fair towards
the quarters of the world, and there were five also aloft in the
axle-span. There all the angels of the Lord beheld it, fair,
through the wide creation.1
1854. BOUTERWEK.
Merk auf ! Ich will der Triiume trefflichsten erzahlen, der rnir
traumte zur Mitternacht, als die Sprachbegabten (Menschen)
in Ruhe weilten.
Es deuchte mir, dass ich ein wunderbares Holz sahe in der
Luft schweben, mit Licht umgeben, der Baume glanzendsten :
dies ganze (Wunder)zeichen war iibergossen mit Golde ; Edel-
steine standen vier an des Bodens Gegend; gleicherweise waren
dort fiinf oben an der Achsel Gespann ; es schauten dorthin die
Engel des Herrn alle schfin vermoge ihrer Seligkeit, nicht war
dies jedoch eines Verbrechers Galgen, sondern auf ihn schauten
dort heilige Geister, die Menscheu auf Erden und diese ganze
ruhmreiche Scho'pfung.
1856. KEMBLE.
Lo ! I the costliest of dreams will relate that met me in the
middle of the night, after articulate speaking men dwelt in
1 Arch. 30. 34.
47
THE DREAM OF THE ROOD
rest. It seemed to me that I saw a wondrous tree led through
the sky enveloped in light, brightest of beams : all that beacon
was surrounded with gold ; gems stood fair at the extremities
of the earth, five also there were aloft on the axle-span : all the
angels of the Lord beheld it fair through the firmament. That
was no malefactor's gibbet indeed, but it there beheld holy
spirits, men upon earth, and all this mighty creation.
1859. GREIN.
Traun ! ich will der Traume trefflichsten erzahlen,
was mir hat getraumt urn Mitternacht,
als in Ruhe weilten alle Redetragenden.
Mir dauchte, dass ich sahe einen seltsamen Stamm
mit Licht bewunden in den Liiften schweben,
der Baume glanzendsten : das blinkende Zeichen
war mit Gold all ubergossen, Gemmen stunden
vier an dem Fusse, wie da auch fiinfe waren
oben an dem Achselgespanne. Das beschauten alle Engel
Gottes
herlich fur alle Zukunft ; das war gewis nicht eines Uebel-
thaters Galgen,
sondern heilige Geister schauten hin auf ihn,
die Helden hier auf Erden und alle diese hehre Schopfung.
1866. STEPHENS.
List, now, Lordings, to loveliest swefen, dream the daintiest
at dead of night,
what time each speech-bearer slumber'd peaceful !
Methought I saw, then, sudden in mid-air,
mantling with light-rays, a marvellous Tree,
of beams the brightest. The pillar'd beacon
glitter'd with gold. Grac'd its corners
four the fairest gem-stones, while five as bright were sparkling
up above the span of the shoulder. All the Seraphs beheld
it wistful,
48
APPENDIX
Angel-hosts of endless beauty. 'Twas no wicked outcast's
gallows,
but hie and haste to greet it holy Spirits,
men from our mid-earth, and each mystic orb-king.
1873. PACIUS.
Merk ich melde der Traume trefflichsten
Der mir traumte zu mitten der Nacht
Da die Redebegabten ruhten.
Mir war ich erblickte den Wunderbaum
In Liiften fliegen von Licht umflossen,
Den glanzenden Baum, das ganze Bild war
Umgossen von Golde; Glanzsteine vier
Gliihten zu Fiissen ihm ; fiinf waren
Oben an der Achsel. Die Engel des Ewigen alle
Schauten selig scho'n, nicht eines Sunders Holz
Sondern Ihn sahen di3 guten Geister
Die Menschen alle, die mahre Erde.
1873. HAMMEBICH.
Lyt ! Jeg vil synge min s^de dr^m ;
mig den m^dte ved midnatstide,
mens rundt om alle roligt slumred.
Mig syntes, jeg sa det sselsomste trse,
lysomluet i luften svaeve :
en stralende stamme ! Street med guld
overalt var tegnet ; sedelsten stode,
fire om foden, men fern der var
om hint akselspand oppe. Alle drottens
engle det skued, de evigt fagre.
Sandelig var det ej synderens galge !
Msend oven mulde jo, msegtige Under,
den sk^nne skabning skued op til den.
: 49
THE DREAM OF THE ROOD
1874. (HAMMERICH)-MICHELSEN.
Wisst ! Singen will ich einen sel'gen Traum.
Er ist mir genahet in naehtiger Stund ;
Die redenden Leute ruhten im Schlumrner.
Mir deuchte, ich sahe einen seltsamen Baum
In Liiften schweben, vom Lichte umwoben,
Einen strahlenden Baum. Das Gebilde schien
Uebergossen mit Golde ; und Gemmen standen
Vier an dem Fusse, und fiinfe droben
Am Achselgespann. Alle Engel sahen's,
Sie, die schon erschaff'nen. Ein Schandpfahl war's nicht,
Dran die Blicke hingen der heiligen Geister,
Und der Erdenpilger, der edelsten Wesen.
l882. HlCKEY (MlSS).
Lo, I will tell of the best of dreams, which I dream'd at deep
midnight,
When men were lying at rest ; meseem'd I saw the blessed
Tree,
The loveliest Tree, the Tree most good, uplift and girt with
light,
And flooded with gold; and precious gems at its foot were
fair to see,
And five bright stones on the shoulder-span shone out full
gloriously.
All the fair angels of the Lord gazing beheld it there ;
'Twas not the rood of the sin-steept man, the cross of the
ill-doer,
But holy spirits lookt thereon, and men of mortal breath,
And all this mighty universe.
1888. MORLEY.
What ! I will tell you the choicest of Dreams
That I dreamt at midnight when all talkers were still
In their rest.
5°
APPENDIX
For I saw, as it seemed, in the air a strange Tree
Moving circled with light, the most shining of stems ;
All that sign wHs wrought over with gold, and four gems
Were below by the ground, five at spread of its arms;
On it gazed all the angels of God in their glory for aye.
Truly that was no gallows of shame whereon eyes of the
angels were stayed,
And the eyes of the holy on Earth, and of all the Creator
has made.
1888 (1901). MOORSOM.
Ho, Brethren, list the dream I tell,
The best that e'er to man befell,
How, when the world was hushed to rest,
And men lay still by sleep oppressed,
Amid the visions of the night,
Before me rose a wondrous sight ;
I dreamt a Tree of golden light
With radiant splendour glistening bright
Was borne upon the air;
Methought the four arms glimmered bare,
Save that on each a jewel rare
Flamed on the night a ruddy glare ;
And five gems clustered, whence they sprung,
All ruby-red.
Above my head ;
'Twas thus the Beacon-Ensign hung.
I saw the Fair-Ones in the sky,
With Spirits of the holy dead,
Intent upon the mystery ;
And all that saintly were — 'tis said—
All who by nobleness were led,
All on our earth
Of heavenly birth,
Cast longing looks on high.
5I E2
THE DREAM OF THE ROOD
1890. BROWN (Miss).
Lo, I the best of dreams will tell,
That which medreamt in the middle of the night
When the speech-endowed remained in bed.
Methought that I saw a wondrous tree
Rising aloft, with light begirt,
The brightest of trees : all that sign was
Overlaid with gold ; gems stood
Fair at the surface of the earth, likewise there were five
Up on the shoulder-span. The angels of the Lord beheld it
Fair through the future, nor was that truly the gibbet of a
vile one,
But holy spirits watched it there,
Men upon earth, and all this great creation.
1892. BROOKE1.
Listen— of all dreams I'll the dearest tell,
That at mid of night met me (while I slept),
When word-speaking folk wonned in their rest.
I methought I saw led into the lift,
All enwreathed with light, wonderful, a Tree,
Brightest it of trees ! All that beacon was
Over-gushed with gold ; jewels were in it ;
At its foot were four, five were also there
High upon the axle-span, and beheld it there, all the
angels of the Lord
Winsome for the world to come ! Surely that was not, of
a wicked man the gallows.
But the spirits of the saints saw it (shining) there,
And the men who walk the mould and this mighty
Universe.
1898. BROOKE*.
Listen, of all dreams, I'll the dearest tell,
That at mid of night, met me (while I slept),
52
APPENDIX
When word-speaking wights, resting, wonned in sleep!
To the sky upsoaring, then I saw, methoughfc,
All enwreathed with light, wonderful, a Tree ;
Brightest it of beams ! All that beacon was
Over-gushed with gold; jewels were in it,
At its foot were fair ; five were also there
High upon the shoulder-span, and beheld it there, all the
angels of the Lord,
Winsome for the world to come ! Surely that was not, of a
wicked man the gallows.
But the spirits of the saints saw it (shining) there,
And the men who walk the mould, and this mighty
universe.
1901. GARNETT.
Lo ! choicest of dreams I will relate,
What dream I dreamt in middle of night
When mortal men reposed in rest.
Methought I saw a wondrous wood
Tower aloft with light bewound,
Brightest of trees ; that beacon was all
Begirt with gold; jewels were standing
Four at surface of earth, likewise were there five
Above on the shoulder-brace. All angels of God beheld it
Fair through future ages ; 'twas no criminal's cross indeed,
But holy spirits beheld it there,
Men upon earth, all this glorious creation.
1902. IDDINGS (Miss).
Hark ! of a matchless vision would I speak,
Which once I dreamed at midnight, when mankind
At rest were dwelling. Then methought I saw
A wondrous cross extending up on high,
With light encircled, tree of trees most bright.
53
THE DREAM OF THE ROOD
That beacon all was overlaid with gold;
And near the earth stood precious stones ablaze.
While five more sparkled on the shoulder-beam.
Gazing on it were angels of the Lord,
From their first being's dawn all beautiful.
No cross was that of wickedness and shame,
But holy spirits, men on earth, and all
The glorious creation on it gazed.
54
GLOSSARY
[Initial V follows t; ee is placed like ae; otherwise the order is
strictly alphabetical. Arabic numerals indicate the classes of the
ablaut verbs; w. i,&c., those of the weak verbs; R, the reduplicating;
PP, the preteritive presents ; an, "the anomalous verbs. The double
dagger, J, is used to designate words not elsewhere found in the poetry,
according to Grein. When the designations of mood and tense are
omitted ' ind. pres." is to be understood ; when of mood and tense only,
supply ' ind.' if no other has preceded, otherwise the latter. Definitions
are classed in groups, which are separated by semicolons.]
ac, cow;., but, II, 43_, 1 15, 119,132.
Adam, pr. n., gs. Ad[a]mes, 100.
eefentid, /., eventide, evening
hour, as. aefentlde, 68.
eefter, prep. w. dat., after, 65.
reghwylc, adj., each, every, nsf.
1 20.
Sghwylc, pron., every one, asm.
aighwylcne (seghwylcne anra,
every one), 86. See anra
gehwylc.
eelmihtig, adj., almighty, nsm.
39.93,98,106, 152, 155; asm.
selinihtigne, 60.
eenig, pron., any, any one, nsm.
no, 117 ; dsm. senigum, 47.
£r, adv., before, formerly, 114,
118, 137, 145, 149, 153: comp.
Srur, earlier, formerly, 108 ;
sup. wrest, at first, aforetime, 19.
Jjjergewin, n., former conflict,
ancient strife, as. 19.
rertJan, cow/., ere, before (that),
ser J>an, 88.
»t, prep. to. dat., at, 8, 63.
eetgsedere, adv., together, 48.
reveling, m., Lord, Prince, ds.
seSelinge, 58.
afysan, w. i, trans., hasten, urge
forward,^, nsm., afysed (ready,
eager), 125.
agan, PP., trang., have, possesp,
3 sg. ah, 107.
aheawan, R., trans., to cut down,
pp. nsm. aheawen, 29.
ah^bban, 6, trans., lift up, raise,
pret. I sg. ahof, 44 ; 3 pi.
ahofon, 61, [76].
algcgan, w. i, trans., to lay down,
pret. 3 pi. aledon, 63.
an, num., one ; alone, mm. wk.
ana, 123, 128; gp. anra. See
anra gehwylc, ftghwylc anra.
and, con;'., and; but, 12, &c. (20
times) ; represented in the MS.
by 7-
anforht,ajy., terrified, [a]nforht,
117.
55
THE DREAM OF THE ROOD
anra gehwylc, pron., each one,
every one, dsm. anra gehwyl-
cum, 108. See Sghwylc anra.
anwealda, m., Master, Ruler,
Lord, ns. 153.
ariiran, w. I, trans., upraise, set
up, pp. nsm. arirred, 44.
arlsan, i, intrant., arise, rise (from
death), pret. 3 sg. aras, lot.
iis£ttan, w. I, trans., set, place,
pret. 3 pi. ase.tton, 32 ; opt.
3 sg. ase.tte, 143.
astigan, I, trans., mount, ascend,
pret. 3 sg. astag, 103.
astyrian, w. i, trans., remove,
move, pp. nsm. astyred, 30.
bana, m., slayer, murderer, gpl.
ban[e]n[a], 66.
beacen, n., sign, ns. 6 ; ds. beacne,
83 ; as. 21 ; gpl. beacna, 118.
bealu, n. evil, gpl. bealuwa, 79.
beam, m., tree, cross, ns. 97 ;
ds. beame, 114, 122 ; gpl.
- beama, 6. See sigebeam.
beam, n., child, son, ns. 83.
bedelfan, 3, trans., to bury, pret.
3 «/. bedealf, 75.
bedrifan, i, trans., cover over,
envelop, j>^>. asm. bedrifenne, 62.
begeotan, 2, trans., pour over;
shed, pp. wsn. begoten, 7, 49.
behealdan, J?. , trans., gaze upon,
behold, pretf. 3 s<7. beheold, 25,
58 ; $ pi. beheoldon, 9, n, 64.
be on. See wesan.
beorg, m., hill, mountain, ds.
beorge, 50; as. 32.
beorht, adj., bright, glittering,
dsm. wk. beorhtan, 66 ; sup.
nsm. teorhtost, 6.
beorn, m., man ; hero, ns. 42 ;
np. beornas, 32, 66.
beran, 4, trans., bear, carry, 3 sg.
bereS, 1 18 ; pret. 3 pi. beron, 32.
berstan, 3, intrans., burst asunder,
break, inf. 36.
best eman, w. i, trans., bedew,
wet, pp. nsm. bestemed, 48 ;
nsn. bestemed, 22.
besylian, w. i, intrans., defile,
stain, pp. nsn. besyled, 23.
bewindan, 3, trans., encircle,
wrap, pp. bewunden, 5.
bewreon, i, trans., clothe, cover,
pp. bewrigen, 17, 53.
bifian, to. 2, intrans., tremble,
shake, pret. i sg. bifode, 42 ;
mf. 36.
biter, adj., bitter, sharp, yxm.
biteres, 114.
bled, m., prosperity, blessedness,
dip. bledum, 149.
bleo, M., hue, colour, ip. bleam,
22.
blis, f., joy, happiness, ns. 139,
141 ; ds. blisse, 153 ; dis. blisse,
149.
bliSe, adj., happy, joyful, glad,
nsm. 122.
blod, n., blood, dis. blode, 48.
breost, n., breast, heart, dp.
br eos turn, 118.
brucan, 2, trans., enjoy, partake
of, inf. 144.
bryne, m., fire, burning, as. 149.
bugan, 2, intrans., bow down,
bend, mf. 36, 42.
butu, jm., both (from begen twe-
gen), a. 48.
byrigan, w. i, trans., taste, eat,
pret. 3 sg. byrigde, 101.
GLOSSARY
bysmerian, w. i, trans., mock,
revile, pret. 3 pi. bysmeredon,
48.
ceorfan, 3, trans., carve, hew
out, pret. $pl. curfon, 66.
colian, tc. 2, intrant., grow cold,
pret. 3 sg. colode, 72.
Crist, pr. n., Christ, ns. 56 ; ds.
Criste, 116.
cuman, 4, intrans., come, pret.
3 sij. com, 151; cwom, 154;
3 pi. cwoman, 57 ; pp. nsm.
cuirien, 80.
cwetJan, 5, trans., say, speak ;
3 sg. cwyfl, in ; inf., 116.
cwiflan, w. i, trans., lament, be-
wail, pret. 3 pi. cwlOdon, 56.
cyning, m., King, gs. cyninges,
56; a*, cyning, 44, 133.
cynn, n., kind, race, as. 94.
cyst, m. (what is chosen), best,
chcicest, as. I.
dseg, m , day, gp. daga, 136.
deafl, m., death, gs. deaCes, 113 ;
as. 101.
deman, w. I, trans, (w. dat.~), ad-
judge, inf. 107.
deop, adj., deep,dsm.wk. deopan,
75-
deorc, adj., dark, black, dipm.
ick. deorcan, 46.
dolg, n., wound, scar, np. 46.
dom, m., judgement, gs. domes,
107.
domdaeg, m.} day of judgement,
doomsday, ds. domdsege, 105.
don, an., trans., do, pret. 3 sg.
dyde, 114,
dream, m., joy, delight, ns. 140 ;
gs. dreamee, 144 ; dp. dreamum
133-
dryhten, m., Lord, ns. 101, 105 ;
gs. dryhtnes, 9, 35, 75, 113, 136,
140; as. 64, vs. 144.
durran, PP., dare, pret. 3 sg.
dorste, 35, 42, 45, 47.
eac, adv., also, 92.
ealdgewyrht, n., deed of old,
former action, dp. ealdge-
wyrhtum, 100.
ealdor, m., Prince, Lord, ns. 90.
eall, adj., all, the whole of, nsm.
20, 48, 62; nsn. 6; n*/". 12,
82 ; eal, 55 ; asn. 58, 94 ; npm.
ealle, 9, 128; gp. ealra, 125;
rfp»». eallum, 154; o^»7«. ealle,
37. 74, 93-
earm, adj., wretched; npm. earme,
68 ; gpm. earmra, 19.
eaVmod, adj., humble; nsm. 60.
eaxl, /., shoulder, dp. eaxlum,
33.
Jeaxlgespann, n., shoulder beam,
cross beam, ds. eaxlgespanne, 9.
efstan, w. i, intrans., hasten, mf.
34-
§ft, adv., again, afterwards, back,
68, 101, 103.
fgesa, m., fear, awe, ns. 86.
£geslic, adj., fearful, dreadful,
nsf. 74.
f Hen, n., zeal, courage, it. 34, 60,
123.
ende, m., end, verge, ds. 29.
§ngel, m., angel, np. eng[/a«], 9 ;
englas, 106; dp. englum, 152.
eortJe, f., earth, ground, gs.
eorSan, 37 ; ds. eorSan, 42, 74,
57
THE DREAM OF THE ROOD
eor'&Veg, m., earthly way, ds.
eorSwege, 1 20.
eflel, m.} fatherland, home, ns. 155.
fseger, adj., beautiful, lovely,
nsn. 73; dsf. wk. faegran, 21;
npm. fsegere, 8, 10.
feeste, adv., fast, firm, 38, 43.
fab, adj., stained, discoloured,
mm. 13.
fea, adt>., little, 115.
fealu, indecl. n., many, 50, 125,
131-
feallan, R., intrans., fall, I'M/. 43.
feond, m., enemy, foe, np. feondas,
3°, 33 : aP- 38-
Jfeorgbold, n., dwelling of the
soul, body, ns. 73.
feorran, adv., from afar, 57.
fife, num. adj., five, n. 8.
folc, n., people, ns. 140.
folde, /., earth, ground, gs.
foldan, 8, 43; ds. foldan [76],
132.
for, prep., because of, on account
of; for the sake of; before, in
the presence of, to. dat. 21, 99,
in, 112, 113, 146; w. ace. 93.
forgiefan, 5, trans., give, grant,
pret. 3 sg. forgeaf, 147.
forht, adj., fearful, afraid, nsm. 21.
forhtian, w. 2, intrans., to be
afraid, to be fearful, 3 pi.
forhtiaS, 115.
forlectan, R., trans., leave, aban-
don, pret. 3 pi. forleton, 61.
forft, adv., away, 132.
forftgan, an., intrans., go forth,
come forth, pret. 3 sg. forSeode,
54-
fortSgesceaft, f., creation, as. 10.
fortJon, con/., therefore, where-
fore, 84.
for'Sweg, m., departure, ds. forS-
wege, 125.
forwundian, w. 2, intrans. ,wound
sore,pjp. »«m.,forwundod, 14, 62.
fracotJ, adj. as. »?>., wicked,
(felon), gs. fraco[6]es, to.
fram, prep. w. dat., away from,
69.
frea, m., Master, Lord, as. fre.an,
33-
freond, m., friend, ns. 144; gf>.
freonda, 132 ; np. freondas, 76.
frlnan, 3, trans., ask, inquire,
3 sg. frineS, 112.
fundian, w. 2, intrans., make
one's way, direct one's course,
3 sg. fundaft, 103.
fus, adj., quick, ready, eager,
asn. fuse, 21.
fyll, m., fall, death, as. 56.
fyllan, w. i, trans., fell, cut down,
inf. 73.
galan, 6, trans., sing, inf. 67.
gang, m., flow, dis. gange, 23.
gast, m., spirit, soul, as. 49 ; np.
gastas, II ; ffp. gasta, 152.
gealga, m., cross, ns. 10 ; as.
gealgan, 40.
gealgtreow, n., cross, ds. gealg-
treowe, 146.
geara, adv., of yore, long since, 28.
gebidan, I, trans., endure, pret.
I sg. gebad, 125 ; pp. nsm.
gebiden, 50, 79.
gebiddan, 5, intrans. (w. reft.
dat.}, pray, worship, 3 pi. ge-
biddaj), 83; pret. I'sg. gehed,
122.
GLOSSARY
gebringan, w. I, trans., bring,
imp. 2 sg. gebringe, 139.
gedrefan, w. I, trans., distress,
trouble, pp. ns. gedrefed, 20,59.
geearnian, IP. 2, trans., earn,
deserve, 3 sg. geearnaj), 109.
gefeestnian, w. 2, trans., to fasten,
make fast, pret. 3 pi. gefaest-
nodon, 33.
gefgtian, w. 2, trans., fetch, opt.
3 sg. gefe.tige, 138.
gefrman, 3, trans., find out, get
knowledge of, pret. 3 pi. ge-
frunon, 76.
gefyllan, w. i, trans., beat down,
slay, inf. 38.
gegyrwan, w. 2, trans., adorn,
pp. asn. gegyred, 16; gegyrwed,
»3-
gehwylc, pron., every, each, ds.
gehwylce, 136. See anra ge-
hwylc.
gehyran, w. i, trans., hear, pret.
I »g. gehyrde, 26, inf. 78.
gemeotan, w. I (impersonal w.
ace.), dream, pret. i sg. ge-
lli,-rtU', 2.
gemunan, PP., remember, re-
call, pres. i sg. geman, 28.
geniman, 4, trans., tnke, lay hold
on, pret. 3 pi. genamon, 60 ;
genaman, 30.
geniwian, to. 2, trans., renew,
restore, pp. nsm. geni wad, 148.
genog, adj., enough, numerous,
npm. genoge, 33.
geong, adj., young, nsm. 39.
geotan, 2, intrans., drip, ptc.
npm. [gjeotende, 70.
gerihtan, w. i, intrans., direct,
pp. nsn. geriht, 131.
geryman, w. I, trans., open, pre-
pare, pret. i sg. gerymde, 89.
gesceaft, /., creation, ns. 12,
55, 82.
gesecan, w. i, trans., come to,
attain, inf. 119.
geseon, 5, trans., see, behold,
pret. i sg. geseah, 14, ai, 33,
36, 51, opt. pret. i sg. gesawe, 4.
gesgttan, w. i, trans., place,
establish, pret. 3 pi. ges^tton,
67 ; pp. nsn. gesfted, 141.
gesiene, adj., visible, npm. 46.
gestandan, 6, intrans. (w. refl.
dat.}, stand, pret. 3 pi. gesto-
don, 63.
gestigan, I, trans., to ascend.
mount, pret. 3 sg. gestah, 40 ;
inf. 34.
gesyhS, f., sight, view; vision,
ds. gesyhiSe, 21, 41, 66 ; as.
gesyhSe, 96.
geweald, n., power, prerogative,
a*. 107.
geweorttan, 3, intrans., become,
pp. nsm. geworden, 87.
geweortJian, w. 2, trans., honour;
decorate, adorn, pret. 3 sg. ge-
weorSode, 90, 94 ; pp. asm.
geweorSod, 15.
gewin, n., conflict, struggle, ds.
gewinne, 65.
gewitan, I, intrans., depart, go,
pret. 3 sg. gewat, 71 ; 3 pi.
gewiton, 133.
gewyrcan, w. I, trans., make,
fashion, pret. 3 pi. geworhton,
31-
ginim, m., gem, precious stone,
np. gimmas, 7, 16.
God, m., God, n. 39, 93, 98, 106,
59
THE DREAM OF THE ROOD
156; g. Godes, 83, 152; a. 51,
60.
god, adj., good ; long; dff. gode,
70; sup. nsm. selesta, 27; asn.
selest, i i 8.
gold, »., gold, die. golde, 7, 16 ;
a*. 1 8 ; is. golde, 77.
guma, m., man, ijs. guman, 49 ;
gp. gum[e]n[a], 146.
gyrwan, w. i, trans., deck, pret.
$pl. gyredon, 77.
gy ta, adc., yet, still, 28.
habban,?r. 3, trans., have (auxili-
ary), I sg. hiebbe, 50, 79;
^>re£. 3 *<7. hsefde, 49 ; 3 p£.
haefdon, 16, 52.
heelan, w. I, trans., save, in/1. 85.
hselend, m., Saviour, Jesus, gs.
haelendes, 25.
hselett, m., man ; hero, ns. 39 ;
vs. 78, 95.
halig, arf;., holy; saint, npm.
halige, n ; dpon. halgum, 143,
J54-
ham, m., home, dwelling, as. 148.
hand,/., hand, ds. handa, 59.
hatan, It.y trans., bid, command,
I sg. hate, 95 ; pret. 3 pi. heton,
31-
he, pron., he, nsm. 34, &c. (15
times) ; nsn. hit, 19, 22, 26, 97;
gsm. his, 49, 63, 92, 102, 106,
155; dsmn. him, 63, 65, 67,
1 08, 118; asm. hine, II, 39,
61, 64; np. hi, 46; hie, 32 (12
times) ; gp. heora, 31, 154 ;
hira, 47; dp. him, 31, 83, 86,
88, 133.
heafod, »., head, dp. heafdum,
63.
heah, adj., high, lofty, asm.
heanne, 40.
heahfseder, m., God the Father,
ds. heahfaedere, 134.
healf, /., side, as. healfe, 20.
heard, adj., hard, severe, sup.
nsn., heardost, 87.
h§ bban, 6, trans., bear aloft, lift,
inf. 31.
hffig, adj., heavy, grievous, dsn.
wk. hefian, 61.
help,./., help, succour, ds. helpe,
102.
heofon, m., heaven, sky, gs.
heofenes, 64 ; gp. heofona, 45 ;
dp. heofenum, 85, 134; heo-
fonum, 140, 154; ap. heofenas,
103.
heofonlic, adj., heavenly, asm.
heofonlicne, 148.
heofonrlce, n., kingdom of
heaven, gs. heofonrlces, 91.
heonon, adv., hence, from hence,
133.
her, adv., here, 108, 137, 145.
hlder, adr., hither, 103.
hilderinc, m., warrior, np. hild-
erincas, 61; gp. hilderinca, 72.
hlaford, m., Lord, Master, as. 45.
hleoUrian, w. 2, intrans., speak,
pret. 3 87. hleoSrode, 26.
hlifian, w. i, intrans., rise, tower,
I sg. hlinge, 85.
hnigan, i, intrans., bow, incline,
pret. i sg. hnag, 59.
holt, m., forest, wood, gs. holies,
29.
holtwudu, m., trees of the forest,
forest, as. hol[t]wudu, 91.
hrtew, m., corpse, (dead) body,
MS. 72 j as. 53.
60
GLOSSARY
hreowcearig, adj., sorrowful,
troubled, nsm. 25.
huru, adv., indeed, verily, 10.
hweenne, adv., when, 136.
hwser, adv., where, 112.
hweet, pron. w.,what, ns. h[w]set,
2.
hweet, inter j., lo, behold, I, 90.
hwee'Bre, conj., however, never-
theless, yet, still, 18, 24, 38, 42,
59, 75 ; hwaeffere, 57, 70, 101.
hwil, f., while, time, as. hwile,
24, 64, 70, 84.
hwilum, adv. (hwilum . . . hwi-
lum, now . . . now), 22, 23.
hyht, m., hope, joy, ns. 126;
hiht, 148.
hyldan, w. i, trans., incline, bow
down, t'w/. 45.
ic, pron., I, n<t. I, &c. (43 times);
ds. me, 4, 46, 83, 86, 126, 129,
135. M4; ««• mg. 2, 3°, 3i,
32(«)> 33, 34, 42> 45, 4<5> 61,
75. [76], 77. 81, 9°, "2, 136,
139 ; [rn]6, 142 ; ad. unc, 48 ;
np. we, 70; dp. us, I47b; ap.
us, 73, 75, 147*-
in, prep. w. dat., in, within, 118.
inwidhlgmm. «;., malicious
wound, np. inwidhlfmmas, 47.
iu, adv., long ago, 28, 87.
Isedan, to. i, trans., be moved,
move, inf. 5.
leene, adj., transitory, fleeting,
den. laenum, 109 ; dsn. wk.
la-nan, 138.
lang, adj., long, dsf. lange, 24.
Jlangunghwil,/., time of weari-
ness, gp. langunghwlla, 126.
61
lafl, adj., hateful, sup. nsm.
laSost, 88.
leode, fpl., people, men, dp.
leodum, 88.
leof, adj., dear, beloved, vsm. tr^.
leofa, 78, 95.
leoht, n., light, w. leohte, 5.
libban, w. 3, intrans., live, 3 pi.
lifiaft, 134.
lie, n., body, ffs. lices, 63.
licgan, 5, intrans., lie, ptc. num.
licgende, 24.
lif, n., life, gs. lifes, 88, 126; ds.
life, 109, 138 ; as. 147.
limwerig, adj., weary of limb,
as. limwerigne, 63.
lyft, f- , air? (on lyfte, on high),
ds. lyfte, 5.
lysan, w. i, trans., redeem, inf.
41.
msenigo, /., multitude, throng,
ds. m[cejnigeo, 151; msenige,
112.
moire, adj., glorious, great, n*/.
12, 82 ; d*. wk. m reran, 69.
meete, adj., small (i.e. no), t*.
69, 124.
magan, PP., can, have the power
to, may, i sg. maeg, 85 ; 3 tg.
maeg, no ; pret. i sg. meahte,
18 ; mihte, 37 ; 2 sg. miht, 78.
man, m., man; one; ns. 73, 75,
113; np. me.n, 12, 128; m$nn,
82 ; dp. mannum, 96, 102 ; ap.
men, 93.
mancynn, n., mankind, men, gs.
mancynnes, 33, 99; mancyn,
as. 41, 104.
manig, adj., many, gpm. manigra,
41 ; dpf. ruanegum, 99.
THE DREAM OF THE ROOD
Maria, pr. n,, Mary, a*, wk.
Marian, 92.
melSe, adj., weary, exhausted,
nsm. 65 ; npm. 69.
mi eel, adj., great, nsm. mycel,
130; mf. 139 ; dsf. wk. miclan,
65; ism. mycle, 34, 60, 123;
disf. wk. miclan, 102.
mid, prep., with, among, by,
w. dat. 121, 134, 143, 151 ;
w. dat. or instr., 7, 14, 16, 20,
22, 23 (2), 46, 48, 53, 59, 62,
102, 121, 134,143, 149 (2)» I5I-
mid, adj., middle, mid, gsf.
midre, 2.
mid, adv., together with, at the
same time, 106.
middangeard, m., world, a*. 104.
miht,/., power, might, dis. mihte,
102.
mihtig, adj., powerful, mighty,
nsm. 151.
mm, pron., my, nsf. 130 ; vsm.
78, 95 ; dsm. minum, 30.
mod, n., heart, soul, ds. mode,
130; is. mode, 122. See eaS-
mod, stiftmod.
modig, adj., bold, courageous,
nsm. 41.
modor, f., mother, as. 92.
modsefa, m., heart, soul, ns. 124.
molde, /., earth, as. moldan, 12,
82.
moldfrn, n., sepulchre, tomb,
as. 65.
motan, PP., may, i tg. mot,
142 ; opt. I sg. mote, 127.
mundbyrd, /., help, protection,
ns. 130. ,
neegl, m , nail, dip. nseglum, 46.
nagan, PP. trans., not to have,
i sg. nah, 131.
nama, m., name, sake, ds. naman,
113-
ne, adv., not, 10, 35, 42, 45, 47,
no, 117.
mlit,/., night, ds. nihte, 2.
nu, adv., now, 78, 80, 84, 95,
126, 134.
of, prep. w. dat., from ; out of ;
of, 30, 49, 61, 66, [76], 120,
133; o[f], 138.
ofer, prep. w. ace., above, more
than ; on, upon ; contrary to,
", 35, 82, 91, 94.
oft, adv., often, comp. oftor, 128.
on, prep., in; on, upon; into; to,
unto, at, w. dat. (or instr. .), 9,
29, 3a"» 41, 46, 5°, 56> 66, 71.
75, 83, 105, 109,114,130,132,
134, 135, 137, I4°i J43> H5,
146, 150, 152, 154, 155 ; w. ace.
5, 20,32b, 40,68, 103, 104,125.
on, adv., on, upon, 34, 98.
onbyrigan, w. i, trans, (w. gen.},
taste, inf. 114.
onginnan, $,intrans., begin, pret.
3«gr. ongan, 19, 27, 73; 3 pi
ongunnon, 65, 67.
ongyrwan, w. 3, trans., unclothe,
strip, pret. 3 sg. ongyrede, 39.
ongytan, 5, trans., perceive, inf.
18.
onlysan, w. I, trans., redeem,
pret. 3 sg. onlysde, 147.
ons§ndan, w. i, trans., give up,
yield up, pp. onsended, 49.
onwreon, i, trans., reveal, dis-
close, imp. 2 sg. onwreoh, 97.
open, adj., open, npm. opene, 47.
62
GLOSSARY
oflflaet, cong., until, 26, 32.
o$5e, conj ., or, 36.
reordberend, m., speech-en-
dowed man, np. 3 ; dp. reord-
berendum, 89.
r§st,/., rest, repose, ds. reste, 3.
rgstan, w. l, trans, and intrant.,
rest, repose, pret. 3 «</. rgste, 64,
69.
rice, n., kingdom, realm, ds. 152 ;
i/i. 119.
rice, orf;'., powerful, as. ricne, 44 ;
#p. ricra, 131.
riht, adj., true, asm. rihtne, 89.
rod,/., cross, ns. 44, 136; rf».
rode, 56, 131 ; at. rode, 119.
seel, m/., time, w*. 80.
sar, adj., grievous, gpf. sarra, 80.
sare, adv., deeply, greatly, 59.
sawl,/., soul, ns. 120.
8ceadu,/.,shadow,darkness,7W. 54.
sceat, m., surface, dp. sceatum, 8,
43 ; ap. sceatas, 37.
sceawian, w. 2, trans., see, behold,
pret. l sg. sceawode, 137.
sc^'S'San, 6, trans, (w. dot.), do
harm to, injure, inf. 47.
scima, m., radiance, splendour,
tis. sclman, 54.
scinan, I, intrans., shine, inf. 15.
scir, adj., bright, clear, effulgent,
asm. scirne, 54.
sculan, PP., must, must needs,
be to, 3 sg. sceal, 119; pret. l
sg. sceolde, 43.
se, adj. pron., the ; he ; who ;
that; this, nsm. 13, &c. (eight
times) ; nsn. 8»[t], 10 ; J>aet, 6,
28, 39, 74; gsm. J>aes, 49; damn.
]>am, 9, 50, 58, 59,69, in, 143,
146,150; S5m,6i,65,U4, 129,
154; 5an, 122; dsf. J)5Te, 21,
112, 131 ; asm. J>one, 127 ; asf.
|):i, 20, 68 ; d';I, 119; UK a. ]ia>t,
18, 21, 28, 58; Oaet, 66; np.
J>a, 46, 61. See se Be.
seaft, m.J-^pit, hole, ds. seaj>e, 75.
secan, w. I, trans., seek, vi&it,
in/1. 104, 127 ; pret. 3 pi. soh-
ton, 133.
s§cg, m., man, dp. secgum, 59.
slogan, to. 3, trails., relate, opt.
2 sg. secge, 96, in/. I.
selest. See god.
seolfor, n.t silver, i*. seolfre, 77.
se "Be, pron., who, he who, nsm.
98, 113, 145 ; nsf. seo >e, 131 ;
ypm. ]>ara )>e, 86 ; dpm. J>am
K H9» J53-
side,/., side, (7s. w/c. sldan, 49.
side, adv., widely, 81.
sigebeam, m., cross of victory, ns.
13 ; as. 127.
sigor, victory, triumph, gp. sigora,
67.
sigorfsest, adj., triumphant, vic-
torious, nsm. 150.
sino, n., treasure, dis. since, 23.
singal, adj., continual, perpetual,
nsf. singal, 141.
siflfaet, mn.t journey, ds. sioTate,
150.
simian, w. 2, intrans., depart,
journey, inf. 68.
sitfo'an, adv., thereafter, sy))J)an,
142.
si$8an, conj., after (that), when
(that), 49 ; syWan, 71 ; syU-
pan, 3.
sorg, f., sorrow, trouble, gp.
THE DREAM OF THE ROOD
Borga, 80 ; dip. s[o]rgura, 20 ;
[sorgum], 59.
sorhleofl, n., dirge, as. 67.
spedig, adj., prosperous, success-
ful, mm. 151.
sprecan, 5, trans., speak, inf. 27.
stan, m., stone, ds. stane, 66.
standan, 6, intrans., stand, pret.
i sg. stod, 38 ; 3 pi. stodon, 7,
71 ; inf. 43, 62.
staBol, m., foundation, base, ds.
Btaflole, 71.
steam, TO., moisture, blood, is.
steame, 62.
stefn, m., trunk, ds. stefne, 30.
stefn,/., voice, cry, ns. [71].
stTBmod, adj., brave, unflinching,
•iism. 40.
strtel, m., arrow, dip. strSlum, 62.
strang, adj., strong, unyielding;
firm, nsm. 40 ; npm. strange, 30.
sunu, m. , eon, ns. 1 50.
swa, con/., as, even as ; accord-
ing as, 92, 108, 114.
sweetan, w. I, intrans., bleed, inf.
20.
swat, n., blood, gs. swates, 23.
swefn, «., vision, dream, gp.
swefna, I.
swIB, adj., strong; comp. right
(hand): asf. swi&ran, 20.
swylce, con;'., just as, 8; swylce
swa. just as, 92.
sylf, pron., (him)self, (her)self,
nsm. wJc. sylfa, 105 ; asf. sylfe,
92.
syllic, adj., unusual, extraordi-
nary, marvellous, nsm. 13; comp.
asn. syllicre, 4.
symbel, n., banquet, feast, ds.
symle, 141.
64
syn,/., sin, dp. synnum, 99, 146 ;
ip. synnum, 13.
to, prep. (w. dat.}, to ; towards ;
at; as far as 2, 31, 42, 43, 58,
59, 74, 83, 86, 102, 116, 122,
129, 131, 141, 153.
treow,./., tree, cross, as. 4, 14, 1 7,
25.
tJa, adv., then, J>a, 27, 33, 35, 39,
65, 67, 73, [76], 9°> I"! Sa,
103.
tJa, cow/., when, J>a, 36, 41, 42,
68, 151, 155.
flj&r, adv., there, J»sr, 8, 9, II, 24,
3i, 33, 35. 57, 6o» 75, Io1, no;
Car, 30, 32, 63, 64 (2), 69, 70,
117.
t5<Jer, con/., where, J>3er, 123, 139,
140, 141, 142, 156.
•B&ron, adv., therein, 67.
fleet, con;'., that, in order that,
when: in subject clauses, J)«et,
4, 29, 127; in object clauses,
J>aet, 19, 26, 79, 96 ; in final
clauses, J>aet, 34, 107 ; in tem-
poral clauses, J>set, 81.
fle, pron., who, which, that, ]>e,
in, 118, 137. See se Ce.
flearle, adv., violently, J>earle, 52.
Cegn, m., follower, disciple, np.
J)egnas, 75.
Cancan, to. l, trans., think, pro-
pose, 3 sg. fgncetJ, 121 ; 3 pi.
SgncaS, 115.
ttgnian, w. i, trans., be stretched,
strained,extended,])f nian.tw/'.s 2 .
Ueoden, m., Lord, King, ds.
Seodne, 69.
Ues, pron., this, nsf. 8eos, 12, 82 ;
dm. tJyssum, 83, 109; Cysson,
GLOSSARY
138; asm. tJysne, 104; asf.
Sas, 96.
Bolian, to. 2, trans., endure, suffer,
pret. 3 pi. Solodan, 149.
Bonne, adv., then, at that time,
Jnnne, 107, 115, 1.7, 139, 142.
Bonne, conj., than, J)onne, 128.
Browian, to. 2, intrans., suffer,
pret. 3 sg. J>rowode, 84, 98, 145.
Brymfsest, adj., glorious, Brym-
fsest, num. 84.
Bu, pron., thou, n*. 78, 96 ; a*.
J>e, 95-
Burfan, PP., need, have reason
to, 3s</. J>earf, 117.
Burn, prep. ie. ace., through, by
reason of, by means of, 10, 18,
Burhdrifan, i, trims , pierce, pret.
3 pi. Ourhdrifan, 46.
Byncan, to. I, intrans., seem,
appear, pret. 3 sg. }>uhte, 4.
Bystro,///*. pi., darkness, gloom,
np. 52.
under, prep., beneath, w. dat, 55,
85-
unforht, cut/., undaunted, fear-
less, nsm. no.
up, adc., up, 71.
uppe, adr., np, above, 9.
w£d, f., garment, vesture, ip.
wa-dum, 15, 20, 22.
weefersyn,/., spectacle, show. <?,?.
waefersyne, 31.
wgta, ?n., moisture, blood, ilit.
wa-tan, 22.
wann, adj., dark, black, nsf. 55.
wealdend, m., King, Lord, ns.
in, 155; gs. wealdendes, 33;
COOK (
\veald[end]es, 1 7 ; ds. weald-
ende, 121 ; as. 67.
weard, m., guardian, lord, ns. 91.
weg, m.,way, .as. 88.
well, adr., well, fully, 129, 143.
wenan, w. i, trans., look for.
expect, i sg. wene, 135.
w§ndan, w. i, intrans., alter,
change, vary, inf. 22.
weorc, n., pain, as. 79.
weorod, n., host, company, ds.
weorode, 69, 152 ; werede, 124;
gp. weoruda, 51.
weorBian, to. 2, honour, worship,
3 pi. weorSiaS, 81 ; inf., 129.
weorBlice, adv., worthily, duly,
fitly, 17.
wepan, P., intrans., weep, lament,
3 >y. weop, 56.
werg, m., outlaw, felon, criminal,
ap. wergas, 31.
wesan, an., intrans., be, exist,
3*0.. IB, 80, 97, 126, 129, 130,
139, 140, 041;- biS, 86; 3 pi.
syndon, 46 ; pret. i sg. wses, 20,
21, 29,44,48, 59, 62, 87, 123;
3 sy. w*s, 6, 10, 13, 22, 28,39,
56, 74, 124, 148, 150, 156 ; opt.
3 sg. si, 144; sie, 112; pret.
3 pi. wSron, 8; inf. no, 117.
wide, adv., widely ; wide and
side, far and wide, 81.
wif, /., woman, gp. wifa, 94.
willa, m., desire, ns. 129.
willan, an., will, I sg. wylle, I ;
pret. 3 sg. wolde, 41 ; pret. 3
pi. woldon, 68 ; opt. 3 sg. wile,
107 ; pret. 3 sg. wolde, 34, 113.
wite, n., punishment, torment,
torture, ds. wite, 61 ; gp. wita,
87.
THE DREAM OF THE ROOD
wolcen, »m., cloud, dp. wolcnum,
55 ; dip. wolcnum, 53.
worn, mn., iniquity, dip. worn-
mum, 14.
word, »., word ; command, ds.
worde, in ; a*. 35; ap. 27;
ip. wordum, 97.
woruld, f., world, gs. worulde,
133-
wratt, adj., cruel, gpf. wraSra, 5 1 .
wudu, m., tree, ns. 27.
wuldor, n.j glory, heaven, gs.
wuldres, 14, 90, 97, 133 ; ds.
wuldre, 135, 143, 155.
wunian, w. 2, intrans., dwell,
abide, $pl. wunial), 135; pret.
3 pi. wunedon, 3, 154 ; inf. 121,
143-
wynn,/1., joy, gladness, ip. wyn-
num, 15.
wyrcan, w. I , trans., make, frame,
inf. 65.
wyrd, f., event, occurrence, ex-
perience, ns. 74 ; gp. wyrda, 51.
ymbclyppan, w. i, trans., em-
brace, clasp, pret. 3 sg. yinb-
clypte, 42.
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